The role of socio-cultural issues in the sustainability of camel production in Jordan

¶ [Link to Audio file]

11.00am – Coffee break

11.30am Comparing camels in Afghanistan and Australia: Industry and nationalism during the long nineteenth century

Shah Mahmoud Hanifi [James Madison University, Virginia, USA]

12.00am The association between Bedouin Al-sadu weaving and the camel

Keireine Canavan [University of Wales Institute, Cardiff - UWIC]

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TUESDAY 24 MAY – AFTERNOON – 2.00pm

VENUE: Brunei Gallery Lecture Theatre

2.00pm The wild camel

John Hare [Wild Camel Protection Foundation]

[Link to abstract] [Download PDF of paper]

2.30pm The role of socio-cultural issues in the sustainability of camel production in Jordan

Anas Abdelqader [Institute of Agricultural Research, University of Jordan] [tbc]

3.00pm The status of the camel in the United States of America

Doug Baum [Texas Camel Corps]

3.30pm – Tea break

4.00pm Old World camels reproduction: Nature, current technologies and future prospects

Khalid Ahmed El-Bahrawy [Desert Research Center (DRC), Cairo]

4.30pm The prospects for the camel in Australia

Petronella Vaarzon-Morel, Glenn Edwards and Murray McGregor [Australia]

PLEASE NOTE: Tuesday’s sessions will end with a 30-minute concert of Camel Songs in the Brunei Gallery Lecture Theatre, at around 6.00pm, and then we shall go to a local restaurant to eat, from 7.30pm. All are welcome to join us.

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WEDNESDAY 25 MAY – MORNING – 10.00am

VENUE: Khalili Lecture Theatre

10.00am Dromedary camels in Sudan: types and sub-types, distribution and movement

Wathig A. Mohammed [Tumbool Camel Research Centre, Khartoum] [tbc]

[Link to abstract] [Download PDF of paper]

10.30am Gas chromatography mass spectrophotometry (gc-ms) analysis of female camel urine extracts

Salwa Elbasheir [Central Veterinary Research Laboratory, Khartoum, Sudan]

11.00am – Coffee break

11.30am A study on camel (Camelus dromedarius) Trypanosomiasis: transmitting vectors in Somaliland

Abdullahi Shemanur [Somalia] [Presentation via video]

12.00am The commodification of camel milk in Kenya

David Anderson, Hannah Elliott, Hassan Hussein Kochore and Emma Lochery [The British Institute in Eastern Africa]

12.30am One hump or two? Hybrid camels and pastoral cultures revisited

Richard Tapper [University of London]

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WEDNESDAY 25 MAY – AFTERNOON – 2.00pm

VENUE: Khalili Lecture Theatre

2.00pm The historical spread of Trypanosoma evansi (surra) in camels: a factor in the weakening of Islam?

William G. Clarence-Smith [SOAS, London]

¶ [Link to Audio file]

2.30pm Camels and the Hajj: A window onto the Islamicate world in the 18th century

Gagan D.S. Sood [European University Institute, Florence, Italy]

[Link to abstract] [Download PDF of paper]

3.00pm – Tea Break

3.30pm Camel culture and camel terminology among the Omani Bedouin

Mohammed Bar Ingema Al-Mahri, Domenyk Eades and Janet Watson [University of Salford]

[Link to abstract] [Download PDF of paper]

4.00pm Camel songs and dances

Ed Emery [SOAS, London]

¶ [Link to Audio file]

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ABSTRACTS 2011 CONFERENCE

[in alphabetical order of participants]

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[Top]

The role of socio-cultural issues in the sustainability of camel production in Jordan

Anas Abdelqader [Institute of Agricultural Research, University of Jordan]

ABSTRACT: This study aims to discuss the relevance of Bedouin to the socio-cultural sustainable development of camel farming. Data were collected from 24 camel herds by surveys and structured questionnaires. According to the farmers perceptions, milk and meat production were the most frequently reported reasons. However, farmers reported many socio-cultural issues for keeping camel as a farming culture that go beyond milk or meat production. These socio-cultural issues included: farming desire, hoppy, use of camel milk as medicine, religious factors, ethnic identity and preservation of Bedouins culture. Owning camels considered as a source of pride, glory, power, honor, and nobility. In the past, camels were offered as dowry and used also as a compensation (blood-money, i.e. diyyah) to solve the conflicts. Camel fulfills significant functions in the livelihood of Bedouins; however, many constraints are facing its sustainable farming. Disease outbreaks resulting in high mortality, poor rangelands and poor subsidy were, in descending order, the major constraints facing sustainable camel farming in Jordan. Solutions should start with institutional support and governmental subsidy. Development of initiatives to improve health and management of camel herds is an overriding priority. These include concerns, values and meanings about camel farming, which stem from a socio-cultural context.

CV:

Education: Ph.D. 2007. Livestock Production Systems. University of Göttingen, Institute of Animal Breeding and Genetics, Göttingen, Germany; M.Sc. 2000. Animal Production in Hot Climates. University of Jordan, Amman, Jordan; B.Sc. 1997. Agricultural Sciences. Jordan University of Science and Technology, Irbid, Jordan.

Current Position: Researcher at the Institute of Agricultural Research, University of Jordan.

Research Interests: Sustainability of different livestock production systems.

E-mail: [email protected]

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[Top]

Camel wrestling events in Western Turkey

Ali Fuat Aydin [of Izmir]

¶ [Link to Audio file]

ABSTRACT: The aim of this study is to give brief information about camel wrestling events which are commonly held in Western Turkey at certain times in the year. Even today, camel wrestling shows are still important social events in part of Turkish society. The distribution of camel wrestling and the organizations in Turkey which promote them, and the economic and cultural significance of these events, will also be examined, especially since these wrestling events may provide new economic opportunities in terms of tourism.

CV: Ali Fuat Aydin was born in the village of Ektirli, close to the town of Karpuzlu, in the province of Aydin, in 1973. He has made a significant contribution to the repertoire of Turkish Folk Music with folk music collecting activities in several regions, especially Aydin, Mugla and Izmir. He has mainly worked on “slow zeybeks” and the main focus of his collections is the “kaba zurna” culture in the town of Germencik in the Aydin region, and the town of Milas in the Mugla region. His articles on musical subjects, mainly on Turkish music, have been published in various publications and he has also presented many papers in various conferences abroad. Moreover, he has participated in many studio recordings, concerts, radio and TV programmes, both as a musician and folklorist.

E-mail contact: [email protected]

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[Top]

Old World camels reproduction: nature, current technologies and future prospects

Khalid Ahmed El-Bahrawy [Desert Research Center (DRC), Cairo]

ABSTRACT: With global warming now an established reality, the world’s deserts are advancing. Only camels can survive as the best livestock for projects of sustainable agriculture and animal production under these harsh conditions. Camels can be in times of ecological crisis the proper animals that can be farmed in those dry land areas. However, the reproductive nature of camels is challenging. Dromedary camels are known for their unique sexual behavior during the rutting season. They also have some natural constraints for reproduction, such as long age to puberty for males and females, restricted breeding season, difficulties in induced ovulation, long gestation period and inter-calving interval and high incidence of early embryonic death.

Good understanding of ovarian function and semen nature, and the application of assisted reproductive technologies will allow enhancing reproduction and genetic improvement in camels. Over the years research has been looking into ways of overcoming these constraints and increasing the productivity of camels. This paper will present the developments in camel reproductive technologies over the past 20 years, discussing the current state of the art and future prospects. Among these methods are artificial insemination, in vitro fertilization, embryo transfer, sexing, gamete and embryo micromanipulation, genome resource banking, and cloning.

CV:

Professional expérience: Researcher (Lecturer) in the field of animal reproductive physiology (especially in camels) in the Desert Research Center (DRC), Egypt. PI for a research project entitled “Application of Assisted Reproductive Technologies (ARTs) in Dromedary Camelids”. Supervision of the artificial insemination lab in DRC from 2003 until the present

Education: 2005 – Present (Post doc. Researcher); 2000- 2005 PhD. Alexandria University; 1994 - 2000 M.Sc., Alexandria University; 1990 - 1994 B.Sc., Alexandria University

Publications: Various (14)

Email: [email protected]

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[Top]

The status of the camel in the United States of America

Doug Baum [Texas Camel Corps]

ABSTRACT: This paper will present an overview of the deverlopment of the camel industry in the United States. Areas to be covered include camel ride/petting-zoo operators (the largest segment of the industry), camel breeding and sale aspects, and the burgeoning camel milk market.

CV: Doug Baum has been raising and training camels for seventeen years and is a tour guide in Egypt/Sinai. His interest in camels began while employed as a zookeeper. Envisioning greater educational possiblities, Baum started his own herd and now makes a living sharing his camels through educational presentations at schools, libraries and museums. He has twice presented programmes at the prestigious Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., and specializes in programmes focused on the historic military use of camels in 19th-century Texas.

E-mail: [email protected]

Websites: www.facebook.com/texascamelcorps

www.texascamelcorps.com

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[Top]

The association between Bedouin Al sadu weaving and the camel

Keireine Canavan [University of Wales Institute, Cardiff – UWIC]

ABSTRACT: Al Sadu is an ancient, Bedouin tribal weaving craft that conveys the Arabian nomadic peoples’ rich cultural heritage and instinctive expression of natural beauty. Woven figurative and geometric patterns and symbols message tribal lifestyle, the weavers’ environment and creative self-expression. The textiles and practice are rhythmically linked to poetry, memory, the extension of the hand, and the graceful moving pace of the camel.

Nomadic Bedouin tribes depended strongly upon two factors: camels for survival, and women weavers and their textiles for shelter and aesthetics appreciation. Traditionally, Bedouins had a vital association with camels for transportation and food, but also for textile production, the provision of hair for yarn making, urine for mordanting dyes, and creative inspiration for figurative symbolism. Camel symbols and tribal animal brandings (wasms) created a complex visual language, which is coded in highly prized, woven Sadu textiles.

They lived in large woven tents called Bait Al-Shaar (House of Hair) that were crafted by the women weavers and made from goat hair. Other traditional decorative textiles, such as camel trappings, and utilitarian tent furnishings and containers were made from camel hair and sheep’s wool. With the demise of tribal existence and the decline of associated weaving skills and memories, the demands for large tribal bait textiles have virtually ceased. Al Sadu weaving and nomadic animal husbandry, once crucial and vital, is in danger of being lost.

This paper will discuss the recent findings of a nine-month field study in Kuwait. The focus is on the important aspects of the camel upon traditional and contemporary Bedouin Sadu weaving practices, and the variety of creative camel symbolism within the decorated textile panels (sharjarah) of the woven tent divider (gata). A recent project with Bedouin master-weavers, informed and developed new woven camel symbols, and created contemporary woven camel trappings for exhibition, which messaged the weavers’ current integrity and tribal respect for the camel, plus their aesthetic observations of this remarkable creature.

CV: Dr Keireine Canavan. Programme Director/ Principal Lecturer/ Research Fellow, Cardiff School of Art & Design University of Wales Institute, Cardiff UWIC. Al Sadu Weaving Society: Research Fellow.

As textile educator at undergraduate and post-graduate levels, and world specialist in traditional ikat weaving, Dr Keireine Canavan has published her research ‘Dayak to Digital: Traditional Ikat for Contemporary Patterned Knitted Textiles’ (McFarlane Award 2003). She speaks regularly at conference and exhibits her practice work, nationally and internationally. Her passion for researching endangered and declining ancient textile techniques has taken her to Europe, the Far East and more recently, the Middle East.

Canavan’s recent nine-months field study and on-going research in Kuwait, considered the Bedouin Al Sadu weaving patterns and traditional symbolism at the National Museum of Kuwait: Sadu House. The focus of the on-going research is on the ‘gata’ or decorative woven panel that divides the men’s quarter’s from the women’s in the traditional Bedouin tent, and in particular the semiotics of the woven patterned panel or ‘shajarah’.

Email: [email protected]

Blog: www.alsaduweaving.wordpress.com

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[Top]

The historical spread of Trypanosoma evansi (surra) in camels:

a factor in the weakening of Islam?

William G. Clarence-Smith [SOAS, London]

¶ [Link to Audio file]

ABSTRACT: Trypanosoma evansi kills camels (as well as equids and dogs) across the tropical and sub-tropical world. A single-cell parasite of the blood, transmitted mechanically by blood-sucking flies, it provokes serious and often fatal anaemia. Parasitologists argue that tsetse-borne Trypanosoma brucei, causing sleeping sickness in tropical Africa, evolved into T. evansi to the north of Africa’s tsetse belts during the last few thousand years. It was then carried across the Sahara to North Africa by camels, probably along western routes to Morocco around the 6th century CE.

Islamic armies and caravans, as they spread out from the 7th century CE, created ideal conditions for the eastwards dispersal of T. evansi. Although the stages of this process remain to be discovered, the changing size of the parasite can yield a rough chronology. The disease penetrated into southern Spain and Russia, but was especially prevalent in the Islamic world. As camels and equids were fundamental to Islamic military and economic power, it is suggested that this disease was one factor in the gradual weakening of Islamdom in its multi-secular contest with Christendom.

CV: William Gervase Clarence-Smith is Professor of the Economic History of Asia and Africa at SOAS, University of London, and chief editor of the Journal of Global History (Cambridge University Press). His latest book is Islam and the abolition of slavery, (Hurst: 2006). He has published on equids and elephants around the Indian Ocean, and became interested in disease in camels when writing a chapter on Trypansoma evansi, published in Karen Brown and Daniel Gilfoyle, eds., Healing the herds: disease, livestock economies, and the globalization of veterinary medicine, Athens: Ohio University Press, 2010, pp. 129-45.

E-mail: [email protected]

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[Top]

The camel (C. dromedarius, C. bactrianus): an ancient livestock species with modern productive qualities for an arid 21th century

Maurizio Dioli [Independent researcher]

ABSTRACT: For thousands of years the camel (C. dromedarius; C. bactrianus) has been used by man to perform a multitude of tasks. Through the use of photographs I shall show the multiple uses, ancient and modern, of the camel as a milk and meat provider, as a riding and pack animal, as an important help to agricultural activities, as a symbol of cultural identity and as an ecological animal capable of making use of degraded and ecologically fragile areas.

CV: Italian veterinarian (DVM, MSc, DVetMed, MRCVS) who since 1981 has worked with, and learned about, camels with nomadic camel pastoralists in Kenya, Sudan, Somalia, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Algeria (Western Sahara), Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Yemen, UAE and Iran.

Recipient (2007) of the “Distinguished Camel Scientist” award from the College of Veterinary and Animal Science, Rajasthan University, Bikaner, India. Author of M. Dioli, Pictorial Guide to Traditional Management, Husbandry and Diseases of the One-Humped Camel, photographic CD-ROM, 2007, <<http://www.lulu.com/product/2519274>>; and co-author of H.J. Schwartz and M. Dioli, The One-humped Camel in Eastern Africa. A pictorial guide to diseases, health care and management, Margraf Scientific Books, Berlin, 1992.

E-mail: [email protected]

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[Top]

Gas chromatography mass spectrophotometry (gc -ms) analysis

of female camel urine extracts

Salwa Elbasheir [Central Veterinary Research Laboratory, Khartoum, Sudan]

Paper prepared by Salwa, M./E., Khogli;* Samia, H. A/Rahman;* Esra, M. Musa* and Abdall, M. El Hassan**

* Central Veterinary Research Laboratories, Khartoum, Sudan.

** Faculty of Pharmacy, Al Rabat University, Khartoum, Sudan.

ABSTRACT: In this study the chemical compositions of female camel urine extracts (chloroformic, ethanolic and lyophilized) were analyzed by GC-MS: Agilent technologies’ 5973N. Seventeen bioactive organic compounds were detected. The degraded compounds in all extracts were comparable to each other. The results obtained verifying that female camel urine extracts are excellent poll of bioactive compounds which are extremely valuable for detection and manufacture of new drugs of natural origin.

E-mail: [email protected]

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[Top]

The commodification of camel milk in Kenya

David Anderson, Hannah Elliott, Hassan Hussein Kochore, and Emma Lochery.

[The British Institute in Eastern Africa]

ABSTRACT: Valued for its medicinal properties, camel milk has been transformed from a food produced and consumed on a subsistence level by camel-owning pastoralist communities in northern Kenya and elsewhere in the Horn of Africa, to a highly valued commodity around which there is a booming trade and growing international interest. This paper looks at camel milk's commodification through the activities of three camel milk trading enterprises in Kenya. Rapid pastoral sedentarization and urbanization has created high demand for camel milk among townspeople. These new pockets of demand first prompted small-scale, informal trade run by women from camel-owning communities. The growth of Eastleigh, Nairobi, as an urban centre accommodating a large Somali population following the collapse of the Somali state has further fuelled the boom in the camel milk trade, leading to growing formalisation and consequently a shift in gender roles within the business. By tracking these changes, our study of the camel milk trade in Kenya illustrates how camel-owning pastoralists are adapting to political, climatic and demographic changes in northern Kenya.

A. David M Anderson is Professor of African Politics at the University of Oxford, where he is a Fellow of St Cross College. He has published widely on the history and politics of eastern Africa, his most recent books being The Khat Controversy (2007) and Histories of the Hanged (2005), and has recently completed research on an AHRC-funded project in the Omo Valley, southwestern Ethiopia.

B. Hannah Elliott is studying for an MA at SOAS in Migration and Diaspora Studies. She holds a BA in Social Anthropology from the University of Manchester. Her research interests focus on migrants and refugees, sedentarization, and diasporic space. As a graduate attachee with the BIEA from 2009 to 2010, she worked on a number of research projects in Kenya and Uganda.

C. Hassan Hussein Kochore is studying Anthropology at the University of Nairobi’s Institute of African Studies. Since 2008, he has worked as a research assistant with the BIEA on several projects in northern Kenya, in the fields of anthropology, history, religion and environmental studies.

D. Emma Lochery is a doctoral student in Politics at Oxford, looking at the post-1960s dynamics of the Somali diaspora in the Horn. Her research interests centre on identity and citizenship, urban space, and trade routes. She holds a BA in PPE and an MSc in African Studies, both from the University of Oxford. She spent a year as a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar in Addis Ababa, and six months as a graduate attachee with the BIEA in Nairobi.

E-mail: [email protected]

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[Top]

Camel songs and dances

Ed Emery [SOAS]

ABSTRACT: The camel provides a locus for song in a variety of genres. In countries with active camel cultures, song is part of daily working routines with animals; hence oral and non-notated traditions. In these cultures camel-related song is multi-functional, operating as work song, but also as an accompaniment to rites of passage and as a vehicle for the resolution of social problems. In those same cultures, camel song may also be elevated to an art form within the national culture. Elsewhere, for instance in colonising countries, camel-themed song oscillates between the parodic and the orientalising. The threat to local camel cultures (via ideologies of modernity and the onset of car culture) also poses a threat to camel songs. A project of song collecting needs to be undertaken. In parallel, a survey of camel languages (i.e. the linguistic interface between humans and camels) would be appropriate, before these languages also die out. Camel dance is a lesser field, but nonetheless worth noting.

CV: Ed Emery is organiser of Universitas adversitatis, a web-based free university. He is director of the conference “The Role of the Donkey and Mule in the Culture of the Mediterranean”. He is also working on a PhD at SOAS, on the Arabic and Hebrew strophic poetry of al-Andalus and their crossovers into early Europe.

E-mail: [email protected]

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[Top]

Comparing camels in Afghanistan and Australia during the First Industrial Age

Shah Mahmoud Hanifi [James Madison University, Virginia, USA]

ABSTRACT: Using South Asian and Australian archival sources this paper compares the roles of camels and their handlers in state building projects in Afghanistan and Australia during the global ascendance of industrial production. Beginning in the mid-1880s the Afghan state-sponsored industrial project known as the mashin khana or Kabul workshops had significant consequences for camel-based commercial transport in and between Afghanistan and colonial India. Primary effects include the carriage of new commodities, new forms of financing and taxation, re-routing, and markedly increased state surveillance over camel caravans.

In Australia the trans-continental railway and telegraph, and other projects involving intra-continental exploration and mining, generated a series of in-migrations of Afghan camels and cameleers between the 1830s and 1890s. The port of Adelaide was the urban center most affected by Afghan camels and cameleers, and a set of new interior markets and settlements originate from these in-migrations. The contributions of Afghan camels and their handlers to state-building projects in nineteenth-century Afghanistan and Australia highlight their vital roles in helping to establish industrial enterprises, and the equally important point that once operational these industrial projects became agents in the economic marginalization of camels and the social stigmatization of the human labor associated with them.

CV: Shah Mahmoud Hanifi is an Associate Professor of History focusing on the Middle East and South Asia at James Madison University in Virginia, USA. His publications include Connecting Histories in Afghanistan (Columbia University Press, 2008), “Material and Social Remittances to Afghanistan” (Asian Development Bank, 2006), and “Impoverishing a Colonial Frontier” (Iranian Studies, 2004). Hanifi has received grants from the Social Science Research Council, the Council of American Overseas Research Centers, the American Historical Association, the Asian Development Bank, and James Madison University for research conducted in Australia, Europe, North America, and South Asia.

E-mail: [email protected]

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[Top]

The wild camel

John Hare [Wild Camel Protection Foundation]

ABSTRACT: In 2010 the wild double-humped camel was officially recognised as a new and separate species by the Institute of Population Genetics, University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna, Austria.

Quote: Based on historic, morphologic and genetic evidences the wild camel (C. ferus) is a distinct species with an independent evolutionary history and clearly separated from its domestic relative, the Bactrian camel (C. bactrianus). Hybridization between wild and domestic Bactrian camels occurs and threatens the gene pool of the Mongolian wild camel population.Conserving the genetic integrity and uniqueness of the last wild camels must rank among the highest priorities for developing conservation strategies.

This presentation addresses what can be done to safeguard the future of this new and separate critically endangered species, faced as it with threats from legal and illegal mining operations in both China and Mongolia.

The issue of culling hybrids (which are prevalent in the Great Gobi Specially Protected Area “A” where the wild camel exists in Mongolia) is also addressed, as is the issue of releasing surplus stock from the Captive Wild Camel Breeding and Conservation centre in Mongolia, which is run and managed by the UK based charity: the Wild Camel Protection Foundation (WCPF).

CV: In 1993 John Hare made an expedition into the desert of Mongolia with Russian scientists and in 1995, 1996, 1997, 1999, 2005 and 2006, he undertook camel surveys, riding on domestic camels to discover the status of the wild camel in an area of the Gobi desert which for 45 years had been China’s nuclear test site. As a result, a nature reserve of 155,000 square kms was established.

In 1997 John Hare, founded the UK registered charity the Wild Camel Protection Foundation (WCPF) specifically to protect the IUCN Red Listed critically endangered wild camel. A captive wild camel breeding programme was established in Mongolia in 2004.

In 1999 John Hare discovered two previously unmapped valleys in the desert of Lop Nur which held a ‘naïve’ population of wildlife, including wild camels.

E-mail: [email protected]

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[Top]

Camel culture in Pakistan

Arshad Iqbal¹, Bakht Baidar Khan¹, and M.Arshad Husain²

[Paper will be presented only for eventual book of proceedings]

ABSTRACT: Camel is serving mankind since centuries in multiple ways. In Pakistan, they are well placed in socio-economic systems in various ecological regions, especially in arid/semi arid areas. There are about 1 million camels in Pakistan. Of these, about 40% are in Balochistan province, followed by Punjab, Sindh and Khyber PK.They are raised under traditional/nomadic systems. Milk produced is mainly consumed by camel families except some surplus, which is sold, mixed with the milk of cattle/buffalo/goats. Meat is consumed either cooked as fresh or in dried form. Camels are slaughtered on Eid-ul-Azha (a Muslim religious festival), also for big feasts/marriage parties. Their hairs are used for blankets, rugs; hides for foot wear, clothing and handicrafts. Camels constitute a significant part of all livestock shows in Pakistan. Tourists enjoy camel rides, their racing, dancing and tattoo shows. Camels are used to patrol desert area borders. Camels’ milk and urine have proven medicinal uses. Camel(s) also make part of dowry or used to pay penalties to settle family feuds. In general, camel and rural culture go hand in hand.

¹Department of Livestock Management, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, Pakistan

²Cholistan Development Authority, Bahawalpur, Punjab, Pakistan

CV: Received B.Sc. (Hons) Animal Husbandry, M.Sc (Hons) Livestock Management in 1986 and 1989 respectively. Ph.D. research: "Studies on some of the productive, reproductive and behavioural aspects of camel in Pakistan” – Pioneer Ph.D. Dissertation in the field of Camel Production in Pakistan. Completed postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Sydney, Australia. Represented Pakistan in two International Camel Workshops: Morocco (October, 1999) and Sudan (December, 2002). Supervision of 16 M.Sc and 5 Ph.D students, five research projects including one with the British Council, 55 research papers in national/ international journals, 30 extension articles. Editor of three books, including: Production and Management of Camels. Presently working as Associate Professor in Livestock Management, University of Agriculture Faisalabad (Pakistan). Around 24 years teaching and research experience at university level.

E-mail: [email protected]

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[Top]

A study on camel (Camelus dromedarius) trypanosomiasis transmitting vectors in Somaliland

Abdullahi Sheikh Mohamed Nur [Sheikh Technical Veterinary School, Somalia]

[Paper will be presented by video]

ABSTRACT: Camel trypanosomiasis and its vectors were reported in Somaliland (M.F.Diriye 1993, R.M. Edelsten 1995, A.Sheikh 2007). However, trypanosoma evansi vectors are not properly studied and well understood. Literature regarding vector, vector distribution and their seasonality is scanty. This study intends to investigate the distribution and type of vectors transmitting trypanosoma evansi, and their seasonality in Sheikh, Somaliland.

Materials/Methods:

Traps: Biconical traps (with blue and black coloured fabrics) were assembled in some villages. Two different attractants were used. A small packet full of bovine urine (attractant 1) was pinned inside the fabric, and acetone (attractant 2) in a bottle with a small hole on the lid was put at the base of the trap. A collection protocol of a week was set up.

Community interview.

Observation of grazing animals in field.

Results:

A total of 240 biting flies have been caught with trap, and classified as Tabanidae (pangonia, tabanus and hematopota). The genus Haematobia has been caught from camel body, never observed in traps. Community knows vectors with local names. The highest trapped number of vectors was on April/May 2010 (rainy season) while number dropped in June/July relatively windy dry. Animals are seriously disturbed and become sick during rainy season.

CV:

Education: PhD on Epidemiology, University of Bologna – Italy April 2007; Research Training Programme in Biochemistry, University of Pisa, Italy, (Msci), July 1983; DVM Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Somali National University (SNU), Mogadishu, 1979.

Work Experience: April 2008–Present: Sheikh Technical Veterinary School (STVS) Dean of Studies; January 2002–Present: Tutor of Clinics (STVS); March 1984– December 1990: Biochemistry Lecturer, FVM, SNU.

Publications: 26 original and 4 reviews on camel biochemistry/physiology, 1 original on camel trypanosomiasis, and 6 on socio-cultural issues.

E-mail: [email protected]

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[Top]

Dromedary camels in Sudan: types and sub-types, distribution and movement

Wathig Hashim Mohamed, Tumbool Camel Research Centre (TCRC), Khartoum, Sudan.

Paper prepared by Wathig H. Mohamed ¹ with Galal M. Yousif ², Ali A. Majid ³,

Abdelmalik I. Kalafalla ⁴, Hamid. S. Abdalla ⁵ and Mohamed K. Abdalla ⁶.

ABSTRACT: It is believed that dromedary camels entered Sudan from Egypt, according to a specimen of camel hair rope of the old Kingdom which was found at Fayyum in Upper Egypt 2980 – 2475 B.C. In Sudan the oldest evidence is a bronze figure of a camel with saddle found at Meroe 25-15 BC, which indicates that the animal had moved South by that period.

Sudan holds the second largest camel population in the world estimated at 3,724,000 in 2004 (Statistical Bulletin for Animal Production, No. 14, 2005). Camels in Sudan and elsewhere are classified as pack (heavy) and riding (light) types according to their function. Recent studies have been made to classify the camels according to their performance e.g. dairy camels, meat camels, dual purpose camels and racing camels.

This paper outlines a classification system for Sudanese camels, based on conformational and tribal ownership.

I – Pack Camel: Heavy type which makeup the majority of the camels are maintained by nomads (about 80%). They are sub-grouped into Arabi types and Rashaidi (Sawahli, Deaily, and Souda) types. II – Riding Camel: The light type, which are bred mainly in North-East of the country and in the River Nile State. The best riding camels in the country are to be found east of the Nile, and mainly in Kassala State and Red Sea State. The two main types are: Annafi and Bishari camels.

Hybrid Camels: This types takes its own line on breeding. They are: I–Asshab (Anafi and Arabi), II–Kilaiwau [Anafi and Shallagyai (Bishhari)] and III–Banagir [Anafi and Amirab (Bishari)].

Camels Movement: Generally Darfur and Kordufan camel types move north and south. And the eastern camel types mostly move west and east. On their movement avoiding the clay soil and tsetse fly on south during the rainy season, searching for water and rich pasture.

¹ Tamboul Camel Research Center (TCRC), Animal Resources Research Corporation, Ministry of Science and Technology. ² Faculty of Pharmacology, University of Rabat. ³National Center for Research, Ministry of Science and Technology. ⁴ Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Khartoum. ⁵ Camel Research Center, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Khartoum.⁶ Department of Genetic and Animal Breeding, Faculty of Animal Production, University of Khartoum.

CV: December 2009: M.Sc (Master of Science) in Genetics and Animal Breeding, Faculty of Animal Production, University of Khartoum. Thesis topic: “Molecular Identification and Comparison of Some Sudanese Camel Types and Sub-Types Using RAPD - PCR Technique”, for 18 Sudanese camel types and sub-types comparatively with one Somalian type (Arhou) and one Chad type (Spotted), (samples collected from all over the country for about 18 month according to their seasonal movement),

E-mail: [email protected]

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[Top]

Mangrota Camel Fair: a major socio-economic and cultural event in Pakistan

A. Raziq [Camel Association of Pakistan]

[Paper will be presented by video]

ABSTRACT: The camel plays a pivotal role in the life of the people of the northeastern Balochistan (Suleiman Mountainous Region). The camel herders graze their camel herds all around the year on the woody vegetation of the mountains, and in the month of October they separate the camels ready for sale. The ready-for-sale animals are then moved to Mangrota camel fair. Mangrota camel fair is very famous among the camel breeders and is the main market for their camels. Mangrota is the town of Tehsil Taunsa, Dera Ghazi Khan (D.G.Khan) district of the Punjab province, Pakistan.

The Mangrota camel Mela is held every year in the month of October and is the largest event of the year for the pastorals and traders of the region. The camels brought are predominantly white in color and are known as Kohi camel. These camels are mostly brought from the Suleiman Mountains and the adjoining areas. Mostly mature well developed males of age more than 5 years are brought, but some cow camels and immature male and female are also brought.

The male matured draught animals acquire by the people of the high mountains for downloading timber wood, vegetables and the old and sick populace down to the road sides or near by towns. They carry their daily requirements by loading on camels to the peaks of the mountains where they live. These camels are moved from Mangrota camel Mela both on foot and by loading in trucks to Swat, Dir, Dera Ismail Khan (D.I Khan), Tribal areas & other parts of the NWFP province and some may reach to Afghanistan.

E-mail: [email protected]

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Camels and the Hajj: A window onto the Islamicate world in the 18th century

Gagan D. S. Sood [European University Institute, Florence, Italy]

ABSTRACT: Filtered through a concern for Islamic pilgrimage and piety, my paper operates on two levels. The more specific focuses on ties, especially those mediated by camels, between western Arabia and Egypt in the latter half of the 18th century. The more general places these ties within the context of the region spanning the Indian subcontinent and the eastern Mediterranean in the period before the start of the consolidation of European hegemony. What I present will be based on contemporary documentary sources in Arabic and Persian – mainly letters, accounts, petitions – that were produced as a result of the Court of the Nawwab of Arcot’s involvement in the Hajj in the 18th century. From my preliminary examination, it is clear that these sources have a great deal to say which is new and valuable about: (i) the interconnectedness of spirituality, commerce, diplomacy and ideology for the Islamicate powers of the region; (ii) the communications infrastructure; (iii) the everyday realities for Muslims on pilgrimage; and (iv) the rituals of the Hajj. These sources will be used to describe and analyse the situation of camels within the region’s network of land- and sea-routes, and at the same time shed light on hitherto unknown or dimly perceived aspects of the linkages between southern India, the Hijaz and Misr before the 19th century.

CV: Gagan D. S. Sood received his doctorate in history from Yale in 2008 and is presently the Vasco da Gama Chair Research Fellow at the European University Institute. His current project aims to elaborate integrated histories of the region which spanned much of what we today know as the Middle East and South Asia before the nineteenth century. Drawing on a broad range of contemporary sources in local and regional languages, findings have started appearing in scholarly journals such as Modern Asian Studies, the Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient, and Past and Present. This will culminate in a monograph due out in 2011-12.

E-mail: [email protected]

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One hump or two? Hybrid camels and pastoral cultures revisited

Richard Tapper [University of London]

ABSTRACT: My proposed paper is an update and revision of a paper originally written in 1975 and published in a little-read journal in 1985. Based on field research among Shahsevan nomads in NW Iran and Pashtun pastoralists in northern Afghanistan, the paper surveys the literature on the practice of cross-breeding one-humped and two-humped camels. The history and distribution of hybridization have been recounted by Richard Bulliet (1975, 2009), among others. My aims and materials are rather different; as an anthropologist, I focus in some detail on the part the hybrids play in the economic and ritual practices of two of the peoples who use them, stressing their aesthetic, financial and ceremonial value.

CV: Taught 1967-84 at SOAS, Department of Anthropology and Sociology. Chair of Centre of Near and Middle Eastern Studies 1988-92; Head of Department 1995-98; Convenor of Media Studies Programme 2000-2003. Main research interests: Iran, Afghanistan and Turkey, pastoral nomadism, ethnicity, tribe/state relations, anthropology of Islam, documentary film, Iranian cinema. Publications to date include three monographs and eight edited volumes.

E-mail: [email protected]

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The prospects for the camel in Australia

Petronella Vaarzon-Morel^A, Glenn Edwards^B and Murray McGregor^C

^AIndependent Scholar, Alice Springs, NT, Australia.

^BDepartment Natural Resources, Environment, the Arts and Sport, NT, Australia.

^CGeneral Manager Research, Innovation and Quality, Ninti One Ltd and Professor of Agribusiness, Curtin University, Northam, WA, Australia.