Australia Has More Wild Camels Than Saudi Arabia

In the 1840s, Australian explorers and settlers began importing dromedary camels from British India, Afghanistan, and Egypt to navigate the vast, waterless interior. Camels were ideal for the task: they could carry heavy loads, travel days without water, and cope with extreme heat. By the 1920s, trucks and railways had made them redundant, and thousands were released into the wild. With no natural predators and abundant land, they thrived spectacularly. By the early 2000s the feral population had grown to an estimated 1 million animals. The Australian government launched a major culling program from 2009 to 2013, which reduced numbers to around 300,000 by aerial shooting. Despite the cull, Australia still holds the world largest population of wild dromedaries, an animal that is actually domesticated everywhere else it exists. The camels cause significant environmental damage by consuming vegetation and fouling water sources used by native animals.