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China: A sleepy cameleer resting on his Bactrian camel, Tang Dynasty, c. 7th-9th century CE

China: A sleepy cameleer resting on his Bactrian camel, Tang Dynasty, c. 7th-9th century CE

The Bactrian camel (Camelus bactrianus) is a large even-toed ungulate native to the steppes of central Asia. It is presently restricted in the wild to remote regions of the Gobi and Taklamakan Deserts of Mongolia and Xinjiang.

There are a small number of wild Bactrian camels still roaming the Mangystau Province of South West Kazakhstan. It is one of the two surviving species of camel. The Bactrian camel has two humps on its back, in contrast to the single-humped Dromedary camel.

Camels were widely used in the Silk Road trade across the deserts of Central Asia.

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