Aurean Camel

Weight: 650 - 3,200 lbs.

Height (Shoulder): 7'6" - 8'3"

Social Unit: Herd

Native to: Aurea (Naturalized on Atlantea, Awal, Aztlan, and Vigam)

Known Variants: Wild, Domesticated

The Aurean camel (Camelops Tangolicus) is a camel native to the Tangolian and Argentolian Deserts on the Planet Aurea. The largest camel species in the galaxy, the Aurean camel is closely related to the slightly smaller Gamali and Haxamanian camels from the deserts of Awal, and more distantly related to the guanacos and vicunas (and their domesticated llama and alpaca variants) of Aztlan's mountains. It is closely related enough to the Gamali camel to produce fertile offpsring (genetic evidence suggests up to 12% of camel DNA on Aurea is of Gamali origin, while up to 30% of Gamali camel DNA on Awal is of Aurean origin), and can hybridize with Haxamanian camels as well (though these hybrids are infertile). An experiment in an Ishga lab recently tried to produce an Aurean camel x llama hybrid via artificial insemination, but the hybrid died in utero and no further experiments have taken place.

Aurean camels generally live in large herds of around 20 animals, nomadically roaming the desert in an eternal search for food. They are largely diurnal, resting at night and during the hottest hours around noon. Herds are generally made up of many females led by a dominant male, although females will sometimes lead in turns. Herds will sometimes combine to form massive groups of hundreds of camels during natural disasters or when migrating from famine-stricken areas. Males generally either form bachelor herds of around five to six animals or roam the desert alone in search of mates. Aurean camels are generally non-aggressive creatures despite the hostile environments they call home, preferring stomping their feet, spitting, and simply running away (which they are quite good at, sometimes reaching speeds of up to 40 mph when they need to) to actually fighting. The one exception to this are rutting males, who will wrestle with each other during the autumn months for mates, although fatalities from these encounters are quite rare. Generally, Aurean camels reach maturity by three to five years of age and mate during the autumn months, with most births taking place in the spring. 

Despite their non-aggressive nature, Aurean camels face many natural predators, both in the wild and domesticated. In their natural range, these include sand dragons, sandworms, landsharks, hell pigs, wolves, the Pheron lion, ceratosaurus, daspletosaurus, and the Tangolian blond bear. The numerous worlds they have been introduced to come with plenty of predators as well, with those on Aztlan facing jaguars, pumas, smilodon, and carnivorous dinosaurs too numerous to mention; those on Awal facing leopards, cheetahs, and monitor lizards in addition to many of the same predators that hunt them on Aurea; those on Vigam facing giant mantis, Hurrian beasts, ravagers, titanomyrma, giant scorpions, goatweaver tarantulas, dragon beetles, ant lions, and ant griffins; and the newest population on Atlantea dealing with quinkana, megalania, dingoes, freshwater and saltwater crocodiles, drop bears, and venomous snakes too numerous to mention.

Aurean camels are herbivores that are comfortable both grazing and browsing, with diet varying somewhat by habitat. For example, camels from the slightly wetter areas of the Tangolian steppe tend to graze more, while those from deep in the desert where grass is almost nonexistent prefer browsing. Aurean camels are famous for chowing down on thorn-covered plants that would destroy most other herbivores' mouths, such as the many species of cacti native to Aurea. Their thick lips, a hard palate and papillae lining the inside of their mouths, and unique side-to-side method of chewing allows them to grind up and swallow even the thorniest of cacti with ease, making wild herds somewhat of a pest for cactus growers in their range. Creosote, lalob, acacia, greenstick, and yucca are also favorites of theirs.

To shield themselves from the violent sandstorms Aurea's deserts are prone to, Aurean camels have bushy eyebrows, double rows of elongated eyelashes, and nostrils that are closeable at will. Additionally, Aurean camels can tolerate a whopping 50% water loss, more than almost any other animal in the known galaxy. Their single hump can store up to 100 lbs. of fat, which they can use as an emergency energy cache when food is scarce. Contrary to popular belief, Aurean camels, along with the other camel species, do NOT store water in their humps, and the process in which the fat from these humps is metabolized overall causes a slight net decrease in water. 

In the southern parts of their range and in mountainous areas, Aurean camels will grow long, shaggy winter coats to protect them from the harsh climate. These coats have been used for thousands of years by local peoples for fur, and are theorized to be the initial reason for their domestication by the ancient Askrian people, who lived in parts of central and eastern Argentolia. The Askrians were a originally nomadic people who were dependent on the camel for nearly every aspect of their lifestyle, using them for transportation, meat, milk, and clothing in the harsh desert environment. Eventually, the Askrians developed agriculture and began a more settled existence along the irrigated banks of the area's rivers and the huge Lake Pheron, but Aurean camels nonetheless continued to play a role in their society as work animals. When the Tangolians arrived in the area, they quickly adopted the Aurean camel in addition to the animals they brought with them, such as horses and yaks. The Tangolians who lived in this area, like the Askrians were at first, were and still are a largely nomadic people who depend on their livestock for survial. However, unlike the Askrians, the Tangolians were a militaristic bunch, and on the backs of their horses and camels, built a massive Khanate encompassing most of eastern Aurea. Although its power was short-lived, the Great Tangolian Khanate would go on to conquer large portions of the known galaxy, spreading the Aurean camel to the distant Planet Aztlan, where both feral and domesticated camels remain to this day, mostly in the arid areas of that planet's north. For the next few thousand years, Tangolia would go through several "on" and "off" periods of being a unified Khanate, intermittently fracturing into dozens of smaller petty khanates before being reunified later, repeating the cycle every thousand years or so. The last unified Tangolian Khanate to have any real power outside of the Planet Aurea was the Otrar Khanate, which conquered large areas of the Planet Awal and introduced the Aurean camel to that world as well.  Eventually, the Otrar Khanate's territories on Awal were reabsorbed by the indigenous Haxamanian Empire; and its lands on Aurea, along with what remained of the Askrian civilization, were conquered by the Aureans. 

Aurean adaptability was key to winning them these lands, and part of that adaptability was adopting the Aurean camel to traverse the desert, which was completely unfamiliar and hostile to them (Aureans originated in the wetter, tropical areas of the planet to the north and northwest). A far more urbanized and settled people than the Tangolians or even the Askrians after their turn to agriculture, the Aureans mostly use camels as work animals or cavalry mounts for units fighting in desert environments. Nevertheless, deep in the Argentolian Desert, small bands of camel-mounted nomads called Vagi Cameli still roam the dune seas, and although Askrian has long been a dead language and no one really identifies as "Askrian" anymore due to millennia of assimilation, some elements of Askrian culture still survive in the Vagi Cameli. Tangolians, on the other hand, have very much retained their culture, languages, and ethnic identity despite being under Aurean rule, and the Tangolian nomads of the steppes and desert still very much rely on Aurean camels. During their numerous revolts against Aurean rule, Tangolians will often ride into battle on camels as well as on horseback, and many Tangolian cavalry units serving in the Aurean military will ride camels into battle as well. In their conquest of most of the Planet Vigam, the Aureans introduced the Aurean camel to the drier areas of that world as well, where they continue to be used by the many cultures there, despite Aureans today only controlling the provincial capital and a small parcel of land surrounding it. 

During the recent Tatian War that shook the entire galaxy to its foundations, many Aurean camels were accidentally introduced to the Mullaring Desert on the Planet Atlantea escaping from their use as work animals by the Aurean and Ishga militaries in nearby ports such as Cockamarra. Here, they have bred like rabbits and become a highly invasive species, chowing down on many local plants and upsetting the food chain, leading to the endangerment of many species. However, the quinkana, a native species of terrestrial crocodile, has taken the opportunity to prey on them, somewhat mitigating the damage.