Cotton Thistle vs Dromedary Camel

Onopordum acanthium compared with Camelus dromedarius

Key Differences

• Cotton Thistle is Endangered while Dromedary Camel is Not Evaluated.

Taxonomic Classification

Rank	Cotton Thistle	Dromedary Camel
Kingdom	Plantae (Plants)	Animalia (Animals)
Phylum	Magnoliophyta (Flowering Plants)	Chordata (Chordates)
Class	Magnoliopsida (Dicots)	Mammalia (Mammals)
Order	Asterales (Daisies & Sunflowers)	Artiodactyla (Even-toed Ungulates)
Family	Asteraceae (Daisy Family)	Camelidae (Camels)
Genus	Onopordum	Camelus (Camels)
Species	Onopordum acanthium	Camelus dromedarius

Conservation Status

Cotton Thistle

EN — Endangered

Dromedary Camel

NE — Not Evaluated

Population: ~15.0M

Trend: Stable →

Physical Characteristics

Attribute	Cotton Thistle	Dromedary Camel
Diet	—	Herbivore
Average Lifespan	—	40 years
Average Length	—	2.3 m
Average Weight	—	600.0 kg

Habitat & Geographic Range

Cotton Thistle

Habitat

Found across multiple habitat types including temperate broadleaf and mixed forests, tundra, and tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests, among 10 distinct biome types. Populations are also found in montane and highland environments at higher elevations.

Range

Widely distributed across Asia (Georgia, India, Japan), Europe (22 countries), North America (Canada, United States), Oceania and the Pacific (Australia, New Zealand), and South America (Argentina, Brazil, Chile). Currently classified as Endangered on the IUCN Red List, this species faces significant conservation challenges across its range.

Dromedary Camel

Habitat

Inhabits deserts and xeric shrublands within the Afrotropic biogeographic realm. Populations are also found in montane and highland environments at higher elevations.

Range

Distributed across Australia, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, and Sudan.

Dromedary Camel

The dromedary is the single-humped camel, domesticated over 4,000 years ago. The hump stores fat, not water.

Shared Countries

Both species can be found in 1 countries:

🇦🇺 Australia