Cama (animal)
Encyclopedia : C : CA : CAM : Cama (animal)
A Cama is a hybrid between a camel and a llama. Born via artificial insemination by scientists who were studying how closely related the two species were. The Dromedary Camel is six times the weight of a Llama, hence artificial insemination was required to impregnate the Llama female (matings of llama male to Dromedary female have proven unsuccessful). Though born even smaller than a Llama calf, the Cama had the short ears and long tail of a camel, no hump and llama-like cloven hooves rather than the dromedary-like pads.
At four years old, the Cama became sexually mature and interested in Llama and Guanaco females. A second Cama (female) has since been produced using artificial insemination. Because Camels and Llamas both have 74 chromosomes, scientists hope that the Cama will be fertile. If so, there is potential for increasing size, meat/wool yield and pack/draft ability in South American camelids. The Cama apparently inherited the poor temperament of both parents as well as demonstrating the relatedness of the New World and Old World Camelids
External links
- [CNN - "Scientists produce first cross between camel and llama"]
- [datadubai.com - "Rama, the Cama"]
- [Guardian - "Bad karma for cross llama..."]
| '''Camelids | |
|---|---|
| Afro-Asiatic Camelids: Bactrian Camel - Dromedary | |
| South American Camelids: Alpaca - Guanaco - Llama - Vicuña | |
| Hybrid: Cama | |
From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.