
The story of Australia's wild camel - MiriamWeiner
http://www.bbc.com/travel/story/20180410-the-strange-story-of-australias-wild-camel
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cyberferret
NB: I live in Darwin, Northern Australia, and camels are a way of life in
these parts and are accepted as quite normal, despite being an introduced
species.

I've heard it said that there are actually _more_ camels in the Australian
outback than there are in the Arabian desert, and in fact I recall that we had
to send a bunch of camels back to the Middle East some time ago to make up for
a shortage they were facing there.

NB: Our main railway system here is called "The Ghan" after the nickname given
to the Afghan camel herders of old.

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dbasedweeb
It make sense, the outback is absolutely vast and not densely populated, and
while SA is big, it’s a speck by comparison. The camels must be pretty happy
there, for whatever values ofmhappy apply to um, camels.

~~~
jazoom
To prevent other Australians getting confused, I don't think "SA" here means
"South Australia" (the state just under NT). Probably means "Saudi Arabia".

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i_feel_great
These animals are a menace when you are driving at speed down the highway.
Cows, and kangaroos too. They are tall, so if you hit one at speed the 500kg
carcass comes through the windscreen and wipe you out.

~~~
bracobama
Same thing with Moose up here in Sweden. One just has to be careful while
driving unfortunately.

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mastazi
The book _Tracks_ by Robyn Davidson[1] documents her journey across the
Australian desert using camels. There is also a movie adaptation [2].

I have watched the movie and found it very enjoyable.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robyn_Davidson](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robyn_Davidson)

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tracks_(2013_film)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tracks_\(2013_film\))

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King-Aaron
I grew up in the northern end of Western Australia, and honestly I always
thought it was stranger seeing wild donkeys walking around in the middle of
nowhere than camels.

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mc32
Brings back the memory of this story form a few months ago:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15167479](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15167479)

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justatdotin
> the animals themselves may come across as gentle, lackadaisical beasts

er, no?

~~~
senectus1
the ones I've encountered have been.

They're damned docile and friendly beasts... if not terribly pretty or
fragrant.

~~~
emmelaich
> not terribly pretty ..

People have tried to fix that...

Camels injected with Botox for Beauty Pageant.

[https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-
way/2018/01/24/580228837...](https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-
way/2018/01/24/580228837/a-dozen-camels-disqualified-from-saudi-beauty-
pageant-over-botox-injections)

