Camels and Scat

Our camel caravan to Uluru at sunrise on Friday.

You may wonder: "How the heck did camels get to AUSTRALIA?"  Well, the answer is they came in ships (no surprise) 12 or 13 at a time, beginning in the early 1800s.  Our guide told us they came from Afghanistan and other places in the Middle East.  Most died on their way to Australia, but the few that survived eventually populated this large continent.  Once railroads replaced camel trails in the late 1800s, the government told camel owners that they had to start paying registration fees for each camel.  Or, they could shoot the camel.  Ranchers didn't like either option, so most let their camels go.  Now, there are about 750,000 camels in Australia.

Leroy, our Aboriginal nature guide, holding peach seeds.

There are so many camels in Australia now that the rule is: "If you can catch it, you can keep it." Can you imagine?  Free camels!  Every day could be "hump day"!  Camels have no natural enemies and no diseases in Australia.  They love eating almost anything they can find here in the semi-arid conditions.  It's not all "peachy," however.  Here is why: There is a kind of peach tree that the camels love.  When they eat the peaches, they crush the seeds.  Therefore, their scat doesn't spread the seeds.  The tree is now on the endangered species list.  Emus, on the other hand, eat the fruit and swallow the seeds whole.  When they poop, the seed is still there so it can grow wherever the emu, um, drops it.  Who knew that some scat was better than other scat?