# The Fossil Record

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-fossil-record/59091>\
**Category:** Great Debates\
**Created:** [March 23, 2001, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-fossil-record/59091 "2001-03-23T03:15:09Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 4

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**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\
**Post date:** [April 5, 2001, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-fossil-record/59091/61 "2001-04-05T20:52:39Z")

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**jab1** : The equids _probably_ pre-date camels as domesticated animals. It’s a little dicey with the Dromedary Camel, which MAY have been domesticated in Southern Arabia by as early as 4000 B.C.E., but was definitely domesticated by 1800 B.C.E. . The Bactrian Camel was likely domesticated about 2500 B.C.E. in Central Asia.

Camel fun facts ( since I have the book in front of me 😃 )

1.) As of the mid-1980’s there were about 14 million domesticated camels in the world, all but 1.5 million Dromedaries. The largest number are found in the Sudan, Somalia, and India.

2.) _Camelus dromedarius_ is now found only as a domesticated animal, with the exception of about 25,000 feral animals in Australia. Wild populations of _Camelus bactrianus_ were fairly common until about the 1920’s, but now comprise only two small colonies, with about 200 in China and several hundred in Mongolia.

-Tamerlane

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**Author:** ![jab1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ee7513/32.png) [@jab1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jab1)\
**Post date:** [April 5, 2001, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-fossil-record/59091/62 "2001-04-05T22:04:24Z")

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Thanks.

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