Piebald Camels

Domestication of the Dromedary Revisited and Its Consequences for Legislation as to Keeping Livestock or Pet Animals

Being in an advanced stage of domestication is a newly proposed requirement to decide which animals can be safely kept by humans. Dutch legislators were the first to apply it and other European countries may be tempted to adopt a similar approach. Unexpectedly, the Dutch assessors considered the dromedary (Camelus dromedarius) as being insufficiently domesticated and this species will therefore no longer be able to be kept as a production animal from 2024 onwards. In a recent publication on this topic, we showed that the domestication of the dromedary is actually very advanced. In this paper, we apply the same criteria that were used by the Dutch assessors to determine the degree of domestication, taking into account the most recent scientific developments in this area, even though it should be noted that these criteria have neither been peer-reviewed, nor published in an international scientific journal. For the sake of comparison, and in order to validate the procedure, we also applied these criteria to the house cat. The results confirm that the dromedary is highly domesticated, but also that the house cat (Felis silvestris catus) is at most semi-domesticated. Obviously, we agree with the decision of the Dutch legislators to place the house cat on the positive list, but our analysis demonstrates that this was decided on false grounds. Our analysis makes it clear that the requirement of being in an advanced stage of domestication is not suitable. Instead of maintaining this requirement, we recommend implementing evidence-based, peer-reviewed methods to decide which animals can be kept by humans, and to include species specific-guidelines in the legislation on how this can be achieved safely.

Exploiting morphobiometric and genomic variability of African indigenous camel populations-A review

Camels (Camelus dromedarius) in Africa are adapted to arid and the semi-arid environmental conditions, and are valuable for meat, milk and fiber production. On account of the growing demand for camels in this continent, there is a need for knowledge on their phenotypic and genetic diversity. This is fundamental to sustainable herd management and utilization including the design of appropriate breeding and conservation strategies. We reviewed studies on the phenotypic and genetic characterization, breeding objectives, systems of production, productive and reproductive performances, and pathways for the sustainable rearing and use of camels in Africa. The morphological and genetic diversity, productive and reproductive abilities of African camels suggest the existence of genetic variations that can be utilized for breeds/ecotypes' genetic improvement and conservation. Possible areas of intervention include the establishment of open nucleus and community-based breeding schemes and utilization of modern reproductive technologies for the genetic improvement of milk and meat yields, sustainable management of rangelands, capacity building of the pastoralists and agro-pastoralists, institutional supports, formation of centralized conservation centres and efficient and effective marketing systems.

The Youngest, the Heaviest and/or the Darkest? Selection Potentialities and Determinants of Leadership in Canarian Dromedary Camels

Simple Summary

Genetic selection of camels for behavioral traits is not an extended practice in livestock scenarios. Given the existence of pleiotropic genes that influence two or more seemingly unrelated phenotypic traits, here we studied the sociodemographic, zoometric and phaneroptical characteristics potentially determining the intraherd leadership role in Canarian camels. This local endangered breed is mainly reared in same-sex groups because of biased morphostructural preferences, that is, tourism/leisure and milk production for males and females, respectively. The attribute most influencing leadership role was sexual status, as gelded animals more frequently initiated group movements. Furthermore, younger camels were mainly endorsed as group leaders, a condition that could be ascribed to their recognized fluid intelligence and need for constant social and environmental interaction. Referring to zoometrics and phaneroptics, the heaviest and darkest-coated dromedaries were significantly more prone to reaching higher positions in the leadership hierarchy. The presence of white-haired zones in the extremities, head and neck as well as iris depigmentation had non-negligible influence on this type of social organization. This information is valuable for application both in refining animal handling procedures and in genetic selection of animals for their social behavior.

Abstract

Several idiosyncratic and genetically correlated traits are known to extensively influence leadership in both domestic and wild species. For minor livestock such as camels, however, this type of behavior remains loosely defined and approached only for sex-mixed herds. The interest in knowing those animal-dependent variables that make an individual more likely to emerge as a leader in a single-sex camel herd has its basis in the sex-separated breeding of Canarian dromedary camels for utilitarian purposes. By means of an ordinal logistic regression, it was found that younger, gelded animals may perform better when eliciting the joining of mates, assuming that they were castrated just before reaching sexual maturity and once they were initiated in the pertinent domestication protocol for their lifetime functionality. The higher the body weight, the significantly (p < 0.05) higher the score in the hierarchical rank when leading group movements, although this relationship appeared to be inverse for the other considered zoometric indexes. Camels with darker and substantially depigmented coats were also significantly (p < 0.05) found to be the main initiators. Routine intraherd management and leisure tourism will be thus improved in efficiency and security through the identification and selection of the best leader camels.

A tool for functional selection of leisure camels: Behaviour breeding criteria may ensure long-term sustainability of a European unique breed

Livestock selection for desirable temperament traits still remains disregarded for minor productive species, such as camels. Despite dromedary camels from Canary Islands were at once polyvalent, current major functionality for this unique European recognised breed is limited to tourism-oriented interactive experiences. The conservation of this endemic breed implies the immediate enforcement of selective breeding programmes by including behavioural functional traits as genetic selection criteria. With this purpose, we evaluated the suitability of a practical proposal to qualitatively and quantitatively evaluate camel behaviour performance to be applied in breeding programmes for the improvement of camel personality dimensions. One-hundred thirty-one respondents enjoying a camelback leisure riding during high season in Southern Spain were asked to voluntarily fulfill an on-site questionnaire just after the tourist ride concluded. Eleven behaviour criteria were rated on a 5-point Likert-type scale by each respondent for the camel they had ridden on. Generalized Procrustes Analysis revealed that a general consensus between participants for dromedary behavioural features were reached, more substantial for those expressions reflecting agitation and/or indifference towards interaction with human. Moreover, the variability in animal behaviour patterns could be attributed to camel sex- and age-related differences. Mid- to long-term sustainability of Canarian camels may rely on the ability of involved stakeholders to adapt leisure opportunities to customer demands and expectations. Hence, those camel behavioural features with a conditioning potential of overall participants satisfaction, may become potential objective selection criteria candidates. Consequently, camel functional selective breeding may ensure camel breed preservation and sustainable protection based on leisure activities.

On-Target CRISPR/Cas9 Activity Can Cause Undesigned Large Deletion in Mouse Zygotes

Genome engineering has been tremendously affected by the appearance of the clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)/CRISPR-associated protein 9 (CRISPR/Cas9)-based approach. Initially discovered as an adaptive immune system for prokaryotes, the method has rapidly evolved over the last decade, overtaking multiple technical challenges and scientific tasks and becoming one of the most effective, reliable, and easy-to-use technologies for precise genomic manipulations. Despite its undoubtable advantages, CRISPR/Cas9 technology cannot ensure absolute accuracy and predictability of genomic editing results. One of the major concerns, especially for clinical applications, is mutations resulting from error-prone repairs of CRISPR/Cas9-induced double-strand DNA breaks. In some cases, such error-prone repairs can cause unpredicted and unplanned large genomic modifications within the CRISPR/Cas9 on-target site. Here we describe the largest, to the best of our knowledge, undesigned on-target deletion with a size of ~293 kb that occurred after the cytoplasmic injection of CRISPR/Cas9 system components into mouse zygotes and speculate about its origin. We suppose that deletion occurred as a result of the truncation of one of the ends of a double-strand break during the repair.

From Desert to Medicine: A Review of Camel Genomics and Therapeutic Products

Camels have an important role in the lives of human beings, especially in arid regions, due to their multipurpose role and unique ability to adapt to harsh conditions. In spite of its enormous economic, cultural, and biological importance, the camel genome has not been widely studied. The size of camel genome is roughly 2.38 GB, containing over 20,000 genes. The unusual genetic makeup of the camel is the main reason behind its ability to survive under extreme environmental conditions. The camel genome harbors several unique variations which are being investigated for the treatment of several disorders. Various natural products from camels have also been tested and prescribed as adjunct therapy to control the progression of ailments. Interestingly, the camel employs unique immunological and molecular mechanisms against pathogenic agents and pathological conditions. Here, we broadly review camel classification, distribution and breed as well as recent progress in the determination of the camel genome, its size, genetic distribution, response to various physiological conditions, immunogenetics and the medicinal potential of camel gene products.

Cdrom Archive: A Gateway to Study Camel Phenotypes

Camels are livestock that exhibit unique morphological, biochemical, and behavioral traits, which arose by natural and artificial selection. Investigating the molecular basis of camel traits has been limited by: (1) the absence of a comprehensive record of morphological trait variation (e.g., diseases) and the associated mode of inheritance, (2) the lack of extended pedigrees of specific trait(s), and (3) the long reproductive cycle of the camel, which makes the cost of establishing and maintaining a breeding colony (i.e., monitoring crosses) prohibitively high. Overcoming these challenges requires (1) detailed documentation of phenotypes/genetic diseases and their likely mode of inheritance (and collection of related DNA samples), (2) conducting association studies to identify phenotypes/genetic diseases causing genetic variants (instead of classical linkage analysis, which requires extended pedigrees), and (3) validating likely causative variants by screening a large number of camel samples from different populations. We attempt to address these issues by establishing a systematic way of collecting camel DNA samples, and associated phenotypic information, which we call the "Cdrom Archive." Here, we outline the process of building this archive to introduce it to other camel researchers (as an example). Additionally, we discuss the use of this archive to study the phenotypic traits of Arabian Peninsula camel breeds (the "Mezayen" camels). Using the Cdrom Archive, we report variable phenotypic traits related to the coat (color, length, and texture), ear and tail lengths, along with other morphological measurements.