Vegetation Choice and Browsing Behavior of Camels in Different Management Conditions

Abstract

Like other ruminants, camels are not entirely vegetarian but seem eating bones, charcoal, mummified young gazelles, head and all. Availability of acceptable plant species was an important limitation to the diet quality as well as selection process. Camels compensate the declining forage abundance by eating more grasses, leaves, litter, vines and lignified twigs by widening their dietary acceptance range in the dry seasons. Two-humped camels fed on specialized desert vegetation-halophytes, shrubs, sub-shrubs, wormwood and various thorny plants. Camels prefer to eat salty bushes with rich water contents so the salts present in such plants help to meet the physiological requirements of the animal. Irrespective of the season, the camels spend more than 80% of their total feeding time on dicotyledons and select a diet with higher protein than the other animal species. On typical grazing grounds of the arid tropics and subtropics, the dromedary prefers to browse bushes and trees while select feed which is highly digestible, especially rich in easily fermentable carbohydrates and having high water contents. Dromedaries graze a broad spectrum of fodder plants including thorny and aromatic species which are generally avoided by other herbivores on overall basis. Camels are very versatile feeders and fed on perennial grasses and dwarf shrubs having coarse texture and hairy leaves which are avoided by other livestock on the fringes of the great deserts and in dune countries. This paper will describe the grazing behavior of camel; thus, will be a useful addition in the field of camel science.