Pastoral camel management practices in Kenya, characterised by free herd mobility that enables efficient utilisation of rangeland resources, is progressively restricted to foraging within the vicinity of urban milk market outlets. The emerging peri-urban camel production system (PUCPS) has potential livelihood benefits to households, but adapting herd management practices responsive to market d...

In mammals, phosphocalcic and bone metabolisms are mainly regulated by parathyroid hormone, parathyroid hormone-related peptide (PTHrP) and 1α,25-dihydroxyvitamin D or calcitriol. In camels, circulating levels of calcitriol are 10 times higher than those determined in other ruminants and further increase during early lactation. Calcitriol and parathyroid-related peptide stimulate intestinal abs...

On the global scale, extensive pastoral production accounts for 10% of total meat production (or a billion head of camels, cattle and small animals on all continents)1 and supports some 200 million pastoral households. Yet, despite the considerable benefits conferred by pastoral production systems, they are often denigrated as being archaic. [R1] On the African continent, despite these subjecti...

Allosuckling is a situation when a female nurses a non-filial offspring. It was described in various ungulate species; however for camels this is the first description of this behaviour. The aim of the study was to assess the occurrence of allosuckling in captive camels (Camelus bactrianus) and to test whether it can be explained as a 'milk-theft' (opportunistic behaviour of calves) or alternat...

this study investigated the effect of season (wet and dry) on milk composition of the dromedary camel (camelus dromedarius). milk samples representing the wet and dry seasons were analyzed for total solids (ts), fat (f), solids-non-fat (snf), ash, crude protein (cp), nitrogen soluble at ph 4.6 (sn), mineral content (mc) and casein fraction (cnf). camel milk had higher (p<0.05) fat content in th...

Mongolia has more than ten times as many livestock as people. Herders are dependent on their livestock for their livelihood, and seasonal movement is driven by the livestock’s grazing needs. The daily, seasonal interactions between Mongolian herders and their livestock put herders at risk for several zoonotic diseases. The goals of this pilot study were to describe potential risk factors for zo...

Q fever is a zoonotic disease caused by the bacterium Coxiella burnetii. Clinical presentation in humans varies from asymptomatic to flu-like illness and severe sequelae may be seen. Ruminants are often sub-clinically infected or show reproductive disorders such as abortions. In Egypt, only limited data on the epidemiology of Q fever in animals are available. Using a stratified two stage random...