A girl walking barefoot in the sahara, standing with a camel

The camel is a kind of cloven-hoofed ungulates of the genus Camelus, with unique fat deposits on its back called "humps". Camels have been domesticated for a long time. As livestock, they provide food (milk and meat) and textiles (fiber and hair felt). Camels are working animals that are particularly suitable for desert habitats and are important means of transportation for passengers and goods. There are three types of camels in existence. Dromedary camels accounted for 94% of the world's camel population, and Bactrian camels accounted for 6%. The wild bactrian camel is an independent species and is now critically endangered. The term camel is also used informally in a broader sense, where the more correct term is "camelidae", which includes all seven species of camelid: the real camel (the above three species), and the "new Camelids of the world": llamas, alpacas, guanacos and vicunas.
The word itself is derived from Latin: camelus and Greek: κάμηλος (kamēlos) from Hebrew, Arabic or Phoenician: gāmāl