Bactrian Camel Born at Detroit Zoo

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ROYAL OAK — A male Bactrian camel was born last week at The Detroit Zoo. The calf can be seen with his parents Suren and Rusty in the camel habitat across from the Horace H. Rackham Memorial Fountain.

“Suren is an attentive and experienced mother and she is keeping a close eye on her gangly little calf,” says Elizabeth Arbaugh, Detroit Zoological Society Curator of Mammals.

The calf weighed 126 pounds at birth and currently stands about 3 feet tall. His coat is soft and gray but will eventually grow thick and coarse as it changes to a sandy brown.

While the Detroit Zoo’s Bactrian camels are domestic, wild Bactrian camels are critically endangered, numbering fewer than a thousand in Central and East Asia.

“On many days, there are more visitors at the Zoo than there are wild Bactrian camels in the world,” Arbaugh says.

The Detroit Zoo is located at 10 Mile Road and Woodward Avenue off I-696 in Royal Oak. The Detroit Zoo is open 362 days a year. For more information, call (248) 541-5717 or visit detroitzoo.org.