First hybrid of a camel x llama
Who
Rama the cama
What
first
Where
United Arab Emirates (Dubai)

On 14 January 1998, at the Camel Reproduction Center (CRC) situated in the Arabian desert within Dubai, UAE, a long-term project headed by chief scientific officer Dr Julian A. (Lulu) Skidmore (UK) finally came to fruition with the birth of Rama, the world’s first hybrid of camel and llama, known as a cama. Rama was a male specimem, and both of his progenitor species belong to the camel family, but could never have encountered one another in the wild. This is because his father was an Arabian camel or dromedary (Camelus dromedarius), and his mother was a South American guanaco (Lama huanacos), from which the domestic llama (L. glama) is descended. Moreover, because the camel is over six times heavier than the guanaco, Rama was conceived by artificial insemination. In 2002, a second cama was born, this time a female, called Kamilah. This ongoing breeding project is funded by Dubai''s Crown Prince and Defence Minister H. H. Sheik Mohamed bin Rashed al-Maktoum.

NB Dr Skidmore is female.