Desert Ships - From primordial Camel to sustainable Livestock in Climate Change

Camels didn't always live in the desert. Their ancestors preferred savannah grasslands and marshy forests along the Gulf coasts in Texas and Florida. As early as Roman times, the practice of crossbreeding camels began along the Silk Road to breed animals with the robustness of the Bactrian camel, the endurance of the dromedary, and the ability to tolerate extreme temperatures. Camels were fundamental for the spread of civilizations through deserts and across inhospitable regions. With the modernization of agricultural systems, the camel is transforming from a traditionally used pack animal to a highly specialized animal for sustainable milk and meat production. Today, camels are utilized from East Asia across Africa to the Western world. They are sought after in racing sports and assist humans in facing the modern challenges of climate change and increasing desertification.

Pamela Burger graduated in 2004 with a doctorate in veterinary medicine on the genetic basis of neurodegenerative diseases in cheetahs and snow leopards. She then began her first research project on the evolution and domestication of Old World camels. In 2021, Pamela Burger habilitated in animal genetics and species conservation and has been deputy head of the Research Institute of Wildlife Ecology at the University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna since 2022.

Eva-Maria Knoll is a research associate at the Institute of Social Anthropology of the Austrian Academy of Sciences. Her research interests lie at the intersection of social anthropology and life sciences. She works on medical-anthropological issues and on human-environment interactions in Asia and Europe. In 2010, Eva-Maria Knoll organised an international workshop on the significance of camels in Asia and North Africa in Vienna together with Pamela Burger.

Duration: 90 min.
To participate in the event, all guests need a valid museum ticket (or an annual ticket, a KHMembership or a membership of the Weltmuseum Wien Friends).
Registration online (limited number of participants)
Meeting point: WMW Forum