The Camel Breeds of India: Adaptations and Uses

India is home to one of the world’s most remarkable camel traditions. From the sun-scorched dunes of the Thar Desert to the frost-bitten valleys of Ladakh, camels have shaped how people travel, farm, trade, and live across the country’s most extreme landscapes. Nine breeds of camel are registered in India, and each one reflects centuries of adaptation to a specific environment and human need. Yet today, these animals face an uncertain future – and understanding their diversity, conservation challenges, and cultural importance is the first step toward protecting them.

Camel breeds and their distribution in India 🔗

India’s camels are almost entirely single-humped dromedaries (Camelus dromedarius), concentrated in the arid and semi-arid zones of Rajasthan and Gujarat. According to the ICAR National Research Centre on Camel, four breeds are classified as major: Bikaneri, Jaisalmeri, Kachchhi, and Mewari. The remaining registered breeds – Mewati, Malvi, Marwari, Jalori, and Kharai – are distributed across smaller tracts within these states.

Bikaneri 🔗

The Bikaneri is considered the premier breed of India. These camels are heavily built and strongly framed, with a distinctive dome-shaped forehead featuring a depression above the eyes called a “stop” – a feature unique to this breed. Some individuals display a luxuriant growth of hair on the eyebrows, eyelids, and ears; such camels are called jheepra. Bred primarily across Bikaner and adjoining districts in Rajasthan, this breed has historically been valued for its exceptional draught power. The world-famous Ganga Risala camel corps of the erstwhile Bikaner State was composed of Bikaneri camels and served in both World Wars.

Jaisalmeri 🔗

The Jaisalmeri is a riding-type breed, built for speed rather than load-bearing. These camels are tall, light-built, and active-tempered, with a small, narrow head and thin skin. Their breeding tract covers Jaisalmer, Barmer, and parts of Jodhpur district – the most arid stretch of the Thar Desert. Historically, a Jaisalmeri camel could cover 100 to 125 km in a single cool night. The breed was famously used in Indian cavalry units and continues to serve in the Camel Corps of the Border Security Force today.

Mewari 🔗

Unlike the flat desert breeds, the Mewari camel is built for hills. These camels are stouter and shorter than the Bikaneri, with strong hindquarters, heavy legs, and thick foot pads suited for hilly Aravalli terrain. Their coarse body hair also offers protection against wild honeybee bites – a practical adaptation to forested hill tracts. The Mewari breed is distributed across the Udaipur and Chittorgarh districts of Rajasthan and is particularly known for milk production.

Kachchhi 🔗

The Kachchhi breed, native to the Rann of Kutch in Gujarat, stands apart from all others in one key way: it is adapted to marshy, coastal terrain rather than sandy desert. These camels have hard, thick foot pads suited to humid, salt-bush environments and are considered a medium-draught, medium-production breed. The Kharai, a closely related breed also from Gujarat, is uniquely capable of swimming across tidal creeks to browse on mangroves – making it one of the most ecologically distinctive livestock breeds in the world.

Conservation of the double-humped Bactrian camel 🔗

India’s only population of double-humped Bactrian camels (Camelus bactrianus) lives in the Nubra Valley of Ladakh, at altitudes between 10,000 and 12,000 feet. Their story is both a conservation success and a cautionary tale.

History and origin 🔗

According to local historian Haji Abdul Razzaq Jamsheed, the Bactrian camel arrived in Ladakh around 1870, brought by traders from Yarkand in present-day Xinjiang, China, along the ancient Silk Road. These camels were essential pack animals, carrying loads of silk, spices, and fruit across the Karakoram range. When the trade route closed in 1950 following new national borders, and after the Sino-Indian War of 1962, the camels were left behind. Their numbers fell to just 64 by the 1990s, pushing the population to the edge of extinction within India.

Physical adaptations 🔗

The Bactrian camel is built for extreme cold rather than extreme heat. The two humps store fat rather than water – this fat is metabolized for both energy and hydration during lean periods. The animals have sealable nostrils, double rows of long eyelashes, and broad cushioned feet that function like natural snowshoes. These camels can withstand temperatures as low as minus 40 degrees Celsius, have high disease resistance, and can eat snow to meet their water needs in winter – making them uniquely suited to Ladakh’s cold desert environment.

Recovery through tourism and government intervention 🔗

The population recovery of the Nubra Valley Bactrian camel is largely credited to camel-ride tourism. In 2003, residents of Hunder village launched camel safaris, and by 2009 they had formed the Central Asia Camel Safari cooperative society. The financial incentive motivated locals to breed and care for the animals. As a result, the population grew from roughly 76 in the mid-1990s to over 300 by recent estimates.

The Indian Army has also inducted Bactrian camels for patrolling the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Eastern Ladakh. DRDO research found these animals can carry loads of up to 200-250 kg at altitudes of 12,000-15,550 feet. Two camels named Galwan and Nubra were formally featured in the 77th Republic Day Parade, signaling their growing strategic importance.

Despite this progress, experts have identified key gaps: there is no complete formal registration of the breed, community grazing areas lack legal protection, and veterinary support at safari points remains inadequate. Researchers from the National Research Centre on Camel recommend completing registration of the breed, protecting grazing lands, developing cottage industries from camel wool and milk, and expanding camel-based tourism infrastructure to ensure the long-term survival of this genetic resource.

Economic and cultural importance of camels in India 🔗

Agriculture, transport, and livelihoods 🔗

For much of the 20th century, the camel was the backbone of rural life in India’s arid zones. In agriculture, camels were used for plowing fields, carting, and transporting produce – particularly in dryland farming areas where wells were deep and wheeled vehicles impractical. Camel caravans, known as kafilas, connected cities and carried spices, silk, and goods across the desert to Persia and beyond. The NRCC notes that camels even assisted engineers in constructing the Indira Gandhi Canal in western Rajasthan.

Today, mechanization has drastically reduced the demand for camels as draught animals. India’s camel population has fallen from nearly one million in 1961 to approximately 200,000 today. The decline is sharpest in Rajasthan and Gujarat, which together hold nearly 90% of the country’s camel population. Tractors replaced draft camels on farms, and trucks took over transport routes.

Camel milk: a new economic anchor 🔗

As traditional uses declined, camel milk has emerged as the most promising new economic rationale for camel breeding. Traditionally referred to as the “white gold of the desert,” camel milk was never sold in pastoral communities – giving it away was a cultural norm. That is changing. Brands like Amul are now experimenting with camel milk products including ice cream and chocolates, and the Rajasthan Cooperative Dairy Federation is actively supporting the sector. A litre of Bactrian camel milk from Nubra Valley can fetch between Rs 2,500 and Rs 3,000, with an established international market already in place.

Cultural significance and community identity 🔗

The camel is deeply embedded in the cultural fabric of Rajasthan and Gujarat. Communities like the Raika and Rebari have maintained multigenerational bonds with their camels, traditionally refusing to slaughter or sell them for meat. Both Hindu and Muslim camel pastoralists in India have historically treated camels like members of the family, naming them and observing elaborate customs around their care. The Pushkar Camel Fair and similar events at Nagaur and Tilwara remain significant cultural and commercial gatherings, even as camel sales have declined.

Camels also contribute to the broader ecology of desert regions. Farmers in Rajasthan allow camel herds to cross their land because camel dung is believed to significantly improve crop yields. Camels graze on thorny, fibrous vegetation that other livestock ignore, helping maintain vegetation balance in fragile arid ecosystems.

Policy responses and the road ahead 🔗

Recognizing the crisis, the Rajasthan government declared the camel its state animal in 2014 and passed the Rajasthan Camel (Prohibition of Slaughter and Regulation of Temporary Migration or Export) Act, 2015. However, the National Camel Sustainability Initiative (NCSI) – developed by India’s Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying in collaboration with the FAO – acknowledges that the 2015 Act inadvertently restricted camel trade and made herding economically unviable for many breeders. The NCSI proposes a more balanced approach: securing grazing rights, building e-market platforms for camel products, promoting breed conservation, and reviving camel fairs and cultural events. The FAO considers camels a key resource for future food security in arid zones, a fact that lends urgency to India’s conservation efforts as climate change continues to expand arid conditions across the subcontinent.

What do you think? India’s camel population has declined by nearly 80% over the past four decades despite being declared a state animal and receiving legal protection. Does protecting an animal through law, without addressing the economic needs of the communities that breed them, actually help conservation? And with the Bactrian camels of Nubra Valley recovering largely because of tourism, do you think tourism-driven conservation is a sustainable long-term strategy for preserving endangered genetic resources?

References

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