The camel family is larger and more varied than most people realize. It includes some animals that we normally think of as camels—and some that we don’t usually recognize as camels. Everybody knows about the one-humped camel, or dromedary. And many people have heard of the Bactrian camel, which has two humps. But did you know that llamas and some other animals without humps are also camels?

As the map at right shows, the deserts of Africa and Arabia are not the only places where camels live. Some of them live in Asia, and some live high up in the mountains of South America. People have even shipped camels to Australia, where a large population roams free in the Australian desert.

The camel family is larger and more varied than most people realize. It includes some animals that we normally think of as camels—and some that we don’t usually recognize as camels. Everybody knows about the one-humped camel, or dromedary. And many people have heard of the Bactrian camel, which has two humps. But did you know that llamas and some other animals without humps are also camels?

As the map at right shows, the deserts of Africa and Arabia are not the only places where camels live. Some of them live in Asia, and some live high up in the mountains of South America. People have even shipped camels to Australia, where a large population roams free in the Australian desert.