Burke and Willis expedition and adventure dromedaries in Australia.

10-12.000 years ago, the ancestors of today's direct camels crossed from Asia to North America by the Isthmus Beringiei. About 5,000 years ago, human populations in East Africa and the Arabian Peninsula south of beginning the process of domestication of camels, dromedaries. In nearly 200 years ago, the first English colonists brought dromedaries in Australia. For the lovely mammals rightly nicknamed "Ships of the Desert" began an adventure of the species currently completed by hundreds of thousands of feral camels that roam the deserts of Australia, alter the local ecosystem and affect important sectors of the economy from the antipodes island-continent.

Support came from Asia

First dromedaries reached in red and hot deserts of Australia came from the Canary Islands and arrived here in 1840. The introduction of dromedary camel in these places was probably one of the most inspired choices of British settlers arrived in Australia and forced to explore and to settle here. First camels dromedaries resist without water longer than any other mammal. Of the approximately 350 species of plants that live in the deserts of Australia, dromedaries eat a number of 325 species! Camels are not to be shod and can move perfectly on sandy surfaces.

Camels have a hard working and physical strength much higher especially horses who need big breaks when working at high temperatures. A dromedary can be used as a beast of burden since the age of 3 years and can work without problems up to 40 years. In addition, the weights carried by dromedaries are impressive for a male can carry the weight back up to 600 pounds and a female can carry weights from 300-400 pounds.

Based on these qualities and features of the dromedary, Australian explorers have imported in 1860 a total of 24 dromedaries Robert O'Hara Burke's shipping and William John Wills.

The two started between 1860-1861 an expedition consisting of 19 people who wanted to cross Australia from south to north across more specifically from Melbourne to the Gulf of Carpentaria. The expedition had traveled a distance of nearly 3,250 kilometers through deserts and rocky areas at a time when much of the continent was explored territory than Aboriginal and therefore was completely unknown European settlers.

Finally route was crossed, but rough cost. Due to lack of experience and mishaps in series, the two leaders have lost their lives along with seven other members of the expedition. If it had not benefited from dromedary, none of them would have reached their destination alive.

Which is why the next 50 years were imported into Australia between 10,000-12,000 dromedaries. Most of them came from India, Bikaner breed specifically selected for hundreds of years in Rajastan as a beast of burden used mainly in wars. Australians have imported breed dromedaries Bishara, used mainly to transport speed and racing in North Africa and Arabia.

He was imported a batch of 20 bactriene camels with two humps, China and Mongolia, but they have not adapted as well as dromedaries climate conditions and relief from Australian deserts. Based on past experience, the explorer Ernest Giles used the dromedaries to cross a distance of 354 kilometers in eight days that has not watered the camels. Later, the same explorer traveled 523 km, from Bunbury Downs Queen Vicotria Springs in western Australia in 17 days after the twelfth day of watering every single camel with one bucket of water.

In 1866 Sir Thomas Elder of Beltane Station in South Australia set up a center of growth and dromedary selection according to environmental conditions and requirements of the people.

Thus, in those days were first generation Australian camels.

From the ideal pack animal dangerous invasive species

And so, dromedaries, drivers and breeders caravan of camels were those who wrote important pages in the history, geography, transport and Australian economy in those days. Caravan leaders were working far way from Afghanistan, India and the Ottoman Empire. Leading the way in Australian wilderness these people have left their mark and today. Trains currently experiencing the vastness of Australia are called "Ghan" in common usage, to refer to the name of the Pashto language that they had cămilarii in his native Afghanistan.

 Resistance dromedary and experience and skill 's Ghana "proved to be crucial in Australia that time. Not only did the early explorers of this state were based solely on them while crossing the desert regions inospitalierele here, but all projects colonized and industrialized Australian wilderness were due more "desert ships". Projects like Overlans telegraph line linking Adelaide and Darwin Transcontinental Railroad and Highway Canning Stock ended safely and on time because the camels.

But after 1920, the days camels as pack animals and transport were counted. Roads, railways, airports were already built, and these animals could not face competition from cars, trains and airplanes. How some of the camels had escaped from captivity or were abandoned in deserts, people have decided to get rid of them simply releasing them into the mainstream. Dromedaries have adapted extremely well in Australia, and in the absence of natural predators or diseases, their numbers simply exploded. Live and thrive in the central deserts, almost half of their number being located in the central-western part of the state, the rest being divided into the Northern Territory, South Australia and Queensland.

Nobody knows exactly how many live. Some experts estimated that there are about 600,000 dromedaries (the year 2012), others argue that dromedaries recently exceeded one million. They both think they are already too many dromedaries, and more than that, year next decade, experts expect to double their number.

It seems that they have already started to behave like an invasive species. Their behavior was modified and intendificarea droughts in recent years, for which flocked March dromedaries simply edistrug water sources of Aboriginal and Watering places specially arranged for the sheep, one of the largest sources of money for Australia .

Often get thirsty camels give simply burst into homes in search of water, and many people get so shoot them.

In areas where sheep and camels compete with cattle farmers spend about 80% of overall maintenance costs to repair damage caused by them. Some farms are home unwillingly even 2,000 camels and some owners have given up farming because dromedary. Big, strong and taxes they no longer have any fear of humans or domestic animals when they stand between her and the sources of water and food.

These foreign animal ecosystems here have become a threat to poor areas, underdeveloped Australia. Not only entered the competition with kangaroos, emus and ostriches other native dwellers for food and water sources in nature, but dromedaries came to destroy and sacred places of Aboriginal, food sources of these people and thus destroy national parks. Like some huge goat 400-600 pounds, dromedaries destroy any form of vegetation.

For these reasons, local and federal authorities have decided unlimited blasting camels. Project Management Forum Australian Feral said that in 2008 only managed to kill over 160,000 dromedaries alive and plans to leave only numbers 300,000 dromedaries, which would not endanger the fragile ecosystem locally. How Australian markets camel meat has a high demand, the authorities have managed to sell meat in Saudi Arabia and hopes that the huge number of carcasses derived from hunts dromedaries future be sold in China.

Despite appearances it seems that all of the Australians managed foreign animals placed on this continent, to managerizeze best camels problem. Fight with foxes, cats, rats and rabbits seems to have been lost continent of the globe. To date ...