Feral Australian Camels--Invasive Species

Picture: This is a male camel's mating call. Male camels in Australia have been reported to injure and even kill humans. This is what the male camel may look like shortly before an attack. Summary: Between 1840 and 1907, 20,000 camels were inported to Australia from India. They were used to explore the then-mysterious inner regions of the continent, and for a while as beasts of burden. The foreign species became feral when camels broke away from their captors in 1860. By 1960, the feral camel population was estimated at 20,000, but some think it may have numbered more closely to 90,000. Camels have caused some damage to vegetation. Most of their preferred food is not shared by other animals. Though they pose little competition, camels do pose a serious health risk for native species, as carriers of many diseases including rabies, camel pox, and anthrax. Camel pox mutates quickly and transfers easily between species. Camel populations have also befouled watering holes with waste. When in the mating season, male camels become extremely aggressive and have been reported to injure or kill livestock and humans. Feral populations have no natural predators, so populations grow unchecked, especially since camels may live 50 years, 47 of which they are reproducing. Their appetites effect the populations of many plant species, as they browse without any specificity. They have caused the local extinction of plumbush, native apricot, and Lawrencia, to name a few. Camels, in addition to all this, emit methane at a rate of about .97 tonnes a year. Opinion/Reflection: I was surprised to find that there were feral camels in Australia, let alone that they could be aggressive! I have been viewing camels as mostly benevolent for a long time, and had no clue that they...kill people. These problems are serious indeed, but I am not an advocate of the culling of any animal. Perhaps could they control birth rates in some way? I have heard about a sort of birth control for deer in the United States, and I wonder how successful that was, and if it would work for camels. 1. What should be done about the camel population? 2. Do you think there is a way that the dispersion of camels could have been prevented, short of never introducing them? 3. How do you think these feral camels fit into the natural order of their environments? Posted by Kim Hughes to Blog Mastersesesesekfhgfladsfysldfliaufds at February 27, 2012 5:30 PM