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The approximate time of domestication of a few animals is listed in Table 1.5. The precise time and location of domestication of the Bactrian camel is unknown, but it is thought to have occurred sometime prior to 2500 BCE. On the border of Turkmenistan and Iran on the east side of the Caspian Sea [4]. The name Bactrian is derived from a place called Baktria, located on the Oxus River in northern Afghanistan. Strangely, this is not the place of origin of the domestic two‐humped camel, nor is the species found in this area today.

Figure 1.13 Suggested evolution of recent artiodactylids.

Source: Adapted from Romer [24] and Simpson [29].

Figure 1.14 Skeletons of various prehistoric camelids removed from the La Brea tar pits in Los Angeles, California. Scientists have discovered an incomplete fossil record.

Domestic Bactrian camels had spread north into southern Russia by 1700–1200 BCE. and were in western Siberia by the tenth century BCE. Bactrian camels were used in China as early as 300 BCE. as the original Silk Route camels but were later replaced by crossbreeds of the dromedary and Bactrian camels [4].

Domestication of the dromedary occurred prior to 3000 BCE. in the Arabian peninsula. The term “dromedary” is derived from dromos (Greek for road) and thus is only directly applicable to the riding or racing dromedary camel. However, dromedary is the name used throughout the world for this species, which existed in historic times only as a domesticated animal. Dromedaries were first associated with nomadic Semitic cultures and did not become important until the rise of the Arabian culture [4].

Dromedaries were reintroduced into North Africa in the third century BCE. More were brought into Egypt during the Roman period, after the third century CE., but became important domestic animals only with the Moslem conquests of Egypt in the seventh to eleventh centuries CE.

Figure 1.15 Native distribution of camels in Africa and Asia.

Figure 1.16 Historic and current distribution of SAC in South America.

Table 1.5 Approximate number of years that certain animals have been domesticated.

Reindeer	14 000	Llama and alpaca	6000–7000
Dog	12 000–15 000	Horse	5500
Goat	11 500	Dromedary camel	5000
Sheep	11 000	Bactrian camel	4500
Cattle	9000	Asian elephant	4000
Pig	9000	Cat	3000–4000