# Where Do Camels Live?

> Where camels live: Deserts and arid plains, native range cues, and human overlap. Status Least Concern.

- **Species:** Camel (*Camelus dromedarius*)
- **Conservation status:** Least Concern
- **Diet:** Herbivore
- **Habitat:** Deserts and arid plains
- **Lifespan:** 40–50 years
- **Top speed:** Up to 65 km/h (40 mph) in short bursts
- **Canonical HTML:** https://globalanimalguide.org/animals/camel/where-do-camel-live/
- **Parent profile:** https://globalanimalguide.org/animals/camel/
- **Last reviewed:** 2026-07-16

## Quick answer

The camel is a large desert-adapted mammal famous for its humps, which store fat rather than water and let it survive long periods without food. The single-humped dromedary lives in the deserts of North Africa and the Middle East, while the two-humped Bactrian camel inhabits the cold deserts of Central Asia. Camels can go for weeks without drinking and then take in over 100 liters at once, and they have long served people as pack animals and a source of milk, meat, and wool. Domestic camels often live 40 to 50 years.

## Who should skip this page

Skip this if you need a sighting hotline. This page is native range and habitat.

## Desert adaptations

Camels are superbly adapted to harsh deserts. Their humps store fat that can be broken down for energy and water when food is scarce, and they can tolerate large swings in body temperature to avoid sweating. They have thick lips for eating thorny plants, double rows of long eyelashes and closable nostrils to keep out blowing sand, and broad padded feet that spread their weight on loose ground. They can lose a third of their body water and recover rapidly when they drink.

## Help protect the Camel

Even familiar animals lose ground as wild habitat keeps shrinking worldwide.

[Donate to wildlife protection](https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/donate/)

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Source: Global Animal Guide (https://globalanimalguide.org/animals/camel/where-do-camel-live/). Licensed CC BY-NC 4.0 — free for non-commercial reuse with attribution.