3-011-994 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Camel and young, 1864. Baby camel born '...at Mr. Connor's Prince of Wales livery stables, Hackney. Its mother was...part of Mr. James Edmonds' (late Wombwells) collection, then exhibiting in the neighbourhood...It is believed that this is the first two-humped, or Bactrian, camel born in England...It is interesting to watch the fondness of the mother for her little one...The mother spits like a lama when her suspicions are aroused by any undue interference with her baby, and would savagely punish any strange intruder by seizing him with her large teeth and shaking him violently. When angry they both exhibit the toothless gum of the upper jaw. The little one is very bold and clever at striking with hind and forelegs. When the mother is lying down it tries to jump over her and plays about in its own clumsy way, she looking placidly on or occasionally giving it an affectionate nibble. The young one is very fond of resting its head on any raised surface and its body on anything soft. It came frequently to our Artist to bite at his paper while he was taking the sketch, or to be caressed; while, with the uncertainty of temper characteristic of its tribe, it would occasionally repay caresses by a kick or an endeavour to use its teeth'. From "Illustrated London News", 1864.