What Is The Camel Doing In Australia? (7/268)

The Aborigines were shocked when, in 1840, they saw camels for the first time. Afghan traders had brought them by ship to Australia. They were to provide transport in the dry interior and thus help tame the hot centre of the continent. Today the descendants of these pioneer camels are no longer tame, they have become wild and are now the last free-ranging camel herds still existing in the world. Meanwhile there are so many that there is talk of a camel pest - they eat the plants of the other desert-dwellers, drink the meagre water rations and destroy the soil with their hooves. Yet, once again, the story of the Australian camels is taking another turn. Each year travellers from all over the world converge in Alice Springs. In a carnival-like show in the Australian desert the best camels are selected. Decades later the Arab countries get their camels back - for a high price as racing camels. 

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  • Raccoon Party
  • Tiger Country
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