Camels are even-toed ungulates within the genus Camelus. The dromedary, one-humped or Arabian camel has a single hump, and the Bactrian camel has two humps. They are native to the dry and desert areas of western Asia and East Africa, and central and east Asia, respectively.
The name camel comes to English via the Greek κάμηλος (kámēlos) from the Hebrew gamal or Arabic Jamal.
The average life expectancy of a camel is fifty to sixty years. The term camel is also used more broadly to describe any of the six camel-like creatures in the family Camelidae: the two true camels, and the four South American camelids, the llama, alpaca, guanaco, and vicuña.
A fully-grown adult camel stands 1.85 m/6 feet at the shoulder and 2.15 m/7 feet at the hump. The hump rises about thirty inches out of its body. Camels can run up to 40 mph (64 km/h) in short bursts and sustain speeds of up to 25 mph (40 km/h).
Fossil evidence indicates that the ancestors of modern camels evovled in North America during the Palaeogene period, and later spread to Asia. Humans first domesticated camels between 3,500–3,000 years ago. The dromedary and the Bactrian camel are both still used for milk, meat, and as beasts of burden—the dromedary in western Asia, and the Bactrian camel further to the north and east in central Asia.
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