Social behaviour and dominance in a group of female domestic Bactrian camels ( Camelus bactrianus ) kept in a zoo: a preliminary study

Literature on the camelid behavioural biology is relatively scarce, and Bactrian camels are especially understudied in terms of their behaviour. The aim of this study was to investigate social behaviour and dominance in domestic Bactrian females. In total, seven adult cows (kept together with one adult bull and two calves) were observed for 90 h. The animals lived in the City of Poznań Zoological Garden. Several forms of agonistic and affiliative behaviour were observed. A tendency towards a dominance structure was observed. Social position was correlated with body height of animals, aggressive behaviour initiated, foot stamping and affiliative behaviour received. According to our knowledge, this is the first description of female camel social structure, as well as one of very few reports on Bactrian camel behaviour. Due to the small sample size it should be treated as a preliminary case study with limited generalizability.