Dromedary Camel vs Jointed Pricklypear

Camelus dromedarius compared with Opuntia aurantiaca

Key Differences

• Dromedary Camel is Not Evaluated while Jointed Pricklypear is Least Concern.

Taxonomic Classification

Rank	Dromedary Camel	Jointed Pricklypear
Kingdom	Animalia (Animals)	Plantae (Plants)
Phylum	Chordata (Chordates)	Magnoliophyta (Flowering Plants)
Class	Mammalia (Mammals)	Magnoliopsida (Dicots)
Order	Artiodactyla (Even-toed Ungulates)	Caryophyllales (Caryophyllales)
Family	Camelidae (Camels)	Cactaceae
Genus	Camelus (Camels)	Opuntia
Species	Camelus dromedarius	Opuntia aurantiaca

Conservation Status

Dromedary Camel

NE — Not Evaluated

Population: ~15.0M

Trend: Stable →

Jointed Pricklypear

LC — Least Concern

Physical Characteristics

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

Habitat & Geographic 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.

Jointed Pricklypear

Habitat

Inhabits flooded grasslands and savannas and deserts and xeric shrublands within the Afrotropic biogeographic realm.

Range

Distributed across Australia, Eswatini, Jamaica, Namibia, and South Africa.

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