What circumstances have contributed to the Bactrian Camel being an Endangered Species?
http://www.wildcamels.com/Images/camels1.jpg The range of the wild Bactrian camel in historic times extended from the great bend of the Yellow River at 110 deg E westward across the deserts of southern Mongolia and northwestern China to central Kazakhstan. It was already heavily hunted for its meat and hide in the 1800’s, and by the 1850’s it persisted only in remote areas of the Gobi and Taklimakan Deserts in Mongolia and China. By the 1920’s, its populations had become fragmented, and it is currently restricted to three small, remnant populations in Mongolia and China. Heavy persecution by hunters and competition with domestic animals for water and pasture were the principal causes of decline up to the 1960’s. Hunting has continued to have a major impact up to the present. Additional threats include settling of oases by pastoralists, prospecting for and extraction of oil and gold, and hybridization with domestic camel stock.
