The Canarian Camel: A Traditional Dromedary Population

Abstract

The domestic camel (dromedary) is the most important livestock species in the Canary Islands and the most important autochthonous European camel population. After six centuries of a successful adaptation process to the particular environment of the Canary Islands, the abandonment of traditional agriculture has led this population to a major bottleneck. Along with a lack of foreign genetic interchanges, this could lead the population to the brink of extinction. Genetic analysis using 13 microsatellites showed the closest genetic proximity to the North African (Tindouf, Algeria) camel population and a certain degree of sub-division, with significant genetic differences among breeders. An important level of genetic differentiation among the different populations analyzed was found with a global FST value of 0.116

Piebald Camels

“…Camels were first introduced to the Canary Islands beginning with the fifteenth century by the Castilian conquerors; during the course of the following centuries, camels adapted to the islands' climate and were used by local peasants, particularly of Lanzarote and Fuerteventura, to power agricultural implements (e.g. ploughs, watermills), as a riding and pack animal, and for wheeled transport (Morera 1991;Schulz et al 2010). Piebald camels were further imported to the Canary Islands from Western Sahara (possibly from individuals originally belonging to the Oulad Tidrarin, as this tribe was customarily living along the coast of Western Sahara adjacent to the Canary Islands, with which it had historical commercial contacts).…”

“…Piebald camels were further imported to the Canary Islands from Western Sahara (possibly from individuals originally belonging to the Oulad Tidrarin, as this tribe was customarily living along the coast of Western Sahara adjacent to the Canary Islands, with which it had historical commercial contacts). Indeed, a recent study has shown a clear genetic proximity between camel populations from the Canary Islands and from western Africa (Schulz et al 2010), and Canary Islands' piebald camels are reported as closely related to the piebald 'Western Sahara' breed (Dioli 2013), from which they likely originated. But when this happened is uncertain.…”

“…10 In the Canary Islands, piebald camels are bred mainly to transport tourists (particularly in the island of Figure 12 Camel herd at a Western Sahara well with roughly 30% of piebald camels (GV) Lanzarote), who seem to be particularly attracted to their variegated colouring and blue eyes (Dioli 2013). Nowadays, there are about 1,000 camels in the Canary Islands (Schulz et al 2010), and they are almost completely used in the touristic industry. Many of them are piebalds.…”

Le dromadaire et le cochon : deux visions opposées de l’élevage ?

“…C'est dire la grande confusion qui règne dans la nomenclature et l'identification des races de dromadaire. En dépit des progrès de la biologie moléculaire pour spécifier les filiations et identifier les indicateurs génétiques pertinents, la génétique cameline est balbutiante (Schultz et al, 2010).…”

Identification of simple sequence repeat markers in the dromedary(Camelus dromedarius) genome by next-generation sequencing

“…They are invaluable genetic tools for animal breeding and quantitative trait locus (QTL) analysis (7,8). The SSR marker system has been widely used for camel genetic diversity (9)(10)(11)(12)(13)(14)(15).…”