Rare albino camel spotted at China nature reserve

White-skinned camel same species as critically endangered Bactrian camels, says nature reserve

A rare albino specimen of a critically endangered camel has been recorded on film at a nature reserve in northwest China’s Gansu province.

Footage from the Annanba Wild Camel National Nature Reserve shows the camel with all-white skin alongside a dozen other brown camels drinking from a puddle.

Staff at the reserve told Chinese media that the albino camel could be the first of its kind captured on camera in the world. Zhou Yongxiang, a member of staff, told Xinhua Net that the white-skinned camel is the same species as the Bactrian camel at the reserve, which normally have brown skin and fur.

They said the camel’s white skin was visible as the animals were in the middle of their shedding season, and it is unclear if its fur will also be white once it has grown out.

The Annanba reserve is located between the Kumtag Desert and the Altun Mountains, and is home to around a third of the total wild camel population in China.

Bactrian camels are the only true wild camels still in existence, and are native to the steppes of Central Asia. They have two distinctive humps on their backs, instead of the single hump of their Arabian relatives.

Also known as Mongolian camels, these animals are listed as critically endangered on the Red List of Threatened Species by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.