Wild camels exist in Australia, which is home to the world’s largest population of feral dromedaries. These animals are not native to the continent but have successfully adapted to the vast, arid interior since their introduction. The substantial and rapidly growing numbers of these free-roaming camels present a major ecological and management challenge due to the extensive territory they occupy and their significant effects on the environment and human infrastructure.
Arrival and Species Identification
The introduction of camels to Australia began in the mid-19th century to aid in exploration and development across the continent’s arid regions. The first successful shipment arrived in 1840, but the major influx occurred between 1866 and 1907, with up to 20,000 animals imported from places like British India and Afghanistan. These animals served as beasts of burden, capable of traversing the harsh interior where horses struggled.
The species introduced was almost exclusively the dromedary, or one-humped camel (Camelus dromedarius). They were instrumental in major construction projects, including the overland telegraph line and railway networks. Camels became obsolete for transportation with the rise of motorized vehicles in the early 20th century, leading many cameleers to release their animals into the wild. This established the foundation for the current feral population.
Population Density and Geographic Range
Australia’s feral camel population is the largest free-roaming herd of dromedaries in the world. Current estimates are highly variable, often ranging from several hundred thousand to over one million animals. This population is capable of doubling in size approximately every eight to ten years due to high survival rates and a lack of natural predators.
The camels are widely distributed across the arid interior, occupying a minimum area of 3.3 million square kilometers. Their range extends across remote parts of Western Australia, South Australia, the Northern Territory, and Queensland. High-density areas, where numbers can exceed two camels per square kilometer, are often centered around the Great Sandy Desert and the Simpson Desert regions. Dromedaries are perfectly suited to these conditions and can forage over 70 kilometers per day.
Environmental and Infrastructure Consequences
The presence of large, mobile herds of feral camels creates significant environmental damage, particularly in fragile desert ecosystems. Camels are large herbivores that compete directly with native animals for limited resources like water and feed. They selectively defoliate native species by browsing on shrubs and trees, reaching foliage up to 3.5 meters high.
This selective grazing and trampling is especially destructive around permanent water sources. During dry periods, large groups of camels congregate at waterholes, fouling the limited supply with their droppings. The sheer weight and movement of the herds also contribute to land degradation, destabilizing dune crests and increasing soil erosion across the rangelands.
Feral camels cause damage to human settlements and pastoral operations. They frequently destroy infrastructure in their search for water, including ripping up pipes, damaging bore pumps, and breaking taps and toilets at remote communities. Camels also damage boundary and internal stock fences by leaning on them until they collapse, allowing livestock to escape and requiring costly repairs for property owners.
Population Control Strategies
Managing this vast and widely distributed population requires coordinated efforts by Australian authorities. They primarily rely on an integrated approach to reduce the density of the feral camel population. The most effective method for rapid reduction in remote, inaccessible areas is aerial culling, which involves shooting the animals from helicopters.
Commercial harvesting is another strategy, offering a potential economic return by capturing animals for the meat industries. This method is only cost-effective when camel densities are high or when the animals are congregated in accessible areas. Other control techniques include trapping camels at water points and constructing exclusion fencing to protect specific assets like waterholes and culturally significant areas.
The immense scale of the problem and the high mobility of the camels make sustained control logistically challenging. Even with control programs, the population’s intrinsic growth rate of around eight percent per year means that a large number of animals must be continually removed. This mitigates the severe environmental and economic consequences of the world’s largest feral camel herd.