The Straw Couln't break Our Camel's Back

[The alchemist]

Our camels were noted for special endurance among the rest:

A picture:

 

[Shimbiris]

It's kinda weird how hardy I've noticed Somali livestock are often noted to be. You'll see similar writings about our blackhead sheep, Somali ponies and horses, our goats and even the Boran type cattle we share with many Oromos like the eponymous Borana.



They'll usually be very hardy, disease-resistant animals that can go a remarkably long time without feed or water and produce remarkable results despite that in comparison to other breeds.

I say weird because you'd expect this to maybe be more true about Arabian livestock given how much harsher the Jazeera is when compared to Somaliweyn but then I suppose Arabia is too harsh so you get animals that are hardy but also won't produce as much milk, meat or overall performance because of how regularly parched they are like in the case of the Hassaswi cattle whereas in Somaliweyn you get a middle-ground where it's often not a completely barren hellish desert like much of the Jazeera but it's still harsh enough to get them remarkably hardy.

 

[Garaad diinle]

Somali livestock and somalis overall were shaped by their environment. Take for example the somali sheep, that is very adaptive to semi-arid and hot climate. It has a hair coat instead of wool that it sheds periodically and that helps it tolerate high temperature and resist parasites.

They have less fat on their body, an adaptation to hot dry climate and drought climate, which helps them reduce heat stress and regulate their body temperature. It also makes their meat more lean and tender, which is why somalis love hilib ari. It also has a fat tail, which is basically a large accumulation of fat that helps it regulate body temperature by dissipating heat.

The somali sheep can survive on the dry grass during drought, which makes them hardy and drought tolerant. During drought, somali sheep may undergo reduced metabolic activity to conserve energy until the next rainy season. The somali camel need no mention it's as some say the ship of the desert and it was even mentioned in the quran where Allah SWT invite us to contemplate on it's khalq.

 

[The alchemist]

It's kinda weird how hardy I've noticed Somali livestock are often noted to be. You'll see similar writings about our blackhead sheep, Somali ponies and horses, our goats and even the Boran type cattle we share with many Oromos like the eponymous Borana.



They'll usually be very hardy, disease-resistant animals that can go a remarkably long time without feed or water and produce remarkable results despite that in comparison to other breeds.

I say weird because you'd expect this to maybe be more true about Arabian livestock given how much harsher the Jazeera is when compared to Somaliweyn but then I suppose Arabia is too harsh so you get animals that are hardy but also won't produce as much milk, meat or overall performance because of how regularly parched they are like in the case of the Hassaswi cattle whereas in Somaliweyn you get a middle-ground where it's often not a completely barren hellish desert like much of the Jazeera but it's still harsh enough to get them remarkably hardy.

You are noting facts about the fitness profile of our animals.

Two things that factor into this:

1) Our subsistence is partly specialized for many thousand years and is partly our craft.

2) The camel in the Somali environmental condition, got high consistent harsh conditioning. Hence, it can sustain a sweet-spot medium, where the pressure is not entirely inhospitable for how the animal can adapt (still pushes it to the adaptive limit, guided by specialists), but overall worse than the Arabian one for a reason. You see, the Arabian condition has topological diversity. They have either complete desertic dunes (if such hyper-arid conditions had full coverage, they would not survive, i.e., worse than the Somali lands) with areas of hot-spot ecosystems, with an endemic range from the coastal west to southwest and south that show the higher richness of vegetation structure and plant richness. Because we don't have the extent to the latter, you can say there was no ease with which the camel could have become less durable while under our specialized control.

One has to mention that it is hypothesized the pre-domesticated dromedary lived in those coastal areas, so the question would be, was there a chance the Arabs have their camels somewhat adaptively closer to their wild-form body-environment condition dynamic constitution? Either way, we Somalis had to conduct a better fitness-characteristic selection bias.

Other conditions can have pushed us toward that form of domestication. Somalis and their direct ancestors throughout the thousand years might have gone through harsh periods of drought, which prompted us to consider a long-term strategy to not be completely wiped out if the oscillatory weather conditions became unpredictable and disruptive, which there is no doubt. One can even speculate that our migration to the Somali northern coasts from Nubia and the Eastern Desert was an intense drought response, but I haven't read the specific literature on that.

 

[Shimbiris]

2) The camel in the Somali environmental condition, got high consistent harsh conditioning. Hence, it can sustain a sweet-spot medium, where the pressure is not entirely inhospitable for how the animal can adapt (still pushes it to the adaptive limit, guided by specialists), but overall worse than the Arabian one for a reason. You see, the Arabian condition has topological diversity. They have either complete desertic dunes (if such hyper-arid conditions had full coverage, they would not survive, i.e., worse than the Somali lands) with areas of hot-spot ecosystems, with an endemic range from the coastal west to southwest and south that show the higher richness of vegetation structure and plant richness. Because we don't have the extent to the latter, you can say there was no ease with which the camel could have become less durable while under our specialized control.

There are, to be fair, several pockets of fertility similar to oases even in the north. My own folk are from Sanaag where you have Cal Madow along with some other green patches near and around Ceerigaabo. But one thing I've noticed, and this was historically true in the riverine south as well, whenever there are greener zones like this Somalis tend to start favoring cattle over camels or at least using cattle a whole lot more. My own mother's ayeeyo, a Raxanweyn of the Maalin Weyn used to keep a large herd of cattle in Koonfur on her father's farm and grow grapes alongside them.

Somalis seem to really focus camels on the arid zones and not be as interested in them when more green lands are encountered. Even cadaans noted that in the more fertile Koonfur you see a remarkable uptick in cattle use, similarly in the interior of the northwest and around Harar where many tribes historically practiced settled agriculture. This, as you say, deliberate specialization probably helped further shape their hardiness.

 

[The alchemist]

There are, to be fair, several pockets of fertility similar to oases even in the north. My own folk are from Sanaag where you have Cal Madow along with some other green patches near and around Ceerigaabo. But one thing I've noticed, and this was historically true in the riverine south as well, whenever there are greener zones like this Somalis tend to start favoring cattle over camels or at least using cattle a whole lot more. My own mother's ayeeyo, a Raxanweyn of the Maalin Weyn used to keep a large herd of cattle in Koonfur on her father's farm and grow grapes alongside them.

Somalis seem to really focus camels on the arid zones and not be as interested in them when more green lands are encountered. Even cadaans noted that in the more fertile Koonfur you see a remarkable uptick in cattle use, similarly in the interior of the northwest and around Harar where many tribes historically practiced settled agriculture. This, as you say, deliberate specialization probably helped further shape their hardiness.

Yeah, for sure. I was talking generally in the transhumance pastoralists' regions. There are mountain ranges that I am sure have endemic ecosystems.

I can see a reason or two why maybe farming-leaning agro-pastoralists prefer cattle with their sedentary subsistence strategy. I think you get more bang for the buck. The cattle can help out and it is fatter as well while only eating 1/3 more food than the camel. Less to handle and produces 5 times as much milk. As you move with the camel herd, those animals eat whatever they have available, doesn't matter, leaves, twigs, those annoying shrubs, everything. But if you had those on a farm, they would eat it all. I think to sustain a camel population, you are compelled to move seasonally (to natural cyclical ecosystems), otherwise, you're in trouble with them eating your ground up, producing way less milk per animal, etc.

I think from a long-term perspective also, Somalis did a trade-off thing where they knew that the camel would be clutch in times of high drought, while the cattle would die off way quicker. It might also reflect the environmental changes, maybe we're in a long-drought period (dry times with internal fluctuations). It might be that the drought that occurs is a drought within a drought. There are short-term trends upon longer trends. We're just too close to the elephant to see the broad gradual changes, but I am sure those pastoralists have a sense of these things through tradition, knowledge, and experience.

 

[World]

It's kinda weird how hardy I've noticed Somali livestock are often noted to be. You'll see similar writings about our blackhead sheep, Somali ponies and horses, our goats and even the Boran type cattle we share with many Oromos like the eponymous Borana.



They'll usually be very hardy, disease-resistant animals that can go a remarkably long time without feed or water and produce remarkable results despite that in comparison to other breeds.

I say weird because you'd expect this to maybe be more true about Arabian livestock given how much harsher the Jazeera is when compared to Somaliweyn but then I suppose Arabia is too harsh so you get animals that are hardy but also won't produce as much milk, meat or overall performance because of how regularly parched they are like in the case of the Hassaswi cattle whereas in Somaliweyn you get a middle-ground where it's often not a completely barren hellish desert like much of the Jazeera but it's still harsh enough to get them remarkably hardy.

Somali livestock is more similar to Mongolian steppe livestock in stature and hardiness.

 

[The alchemist]

Somali livestock is more similar to Mongolian steppe livestock in stature and hardiness.

Those Mongolian animals couldn't survive in the Somali environment and vice versa. If Somali animals were minimal cold-adapted, then Somali domesticates are way superior than if the Mongolian herds had minimal desert resistance.

You're right about the size; technically Somali horses are not ponies. They're just smaller horses that adapted to the semi-arid desert environment. The diminutive stature, called ecological dwarfism, can help with energy efficiency. The body requires less food, less water, and better in an environment with lower of such resources.

 

[Hamzza]

You're right about the size; technically Somali horses are not ponies. They're just smaller horses that adapted to the semi-arid desert environment. The diminutive stature, called ecological dwarfism, can help with energy efficiency. The body requires less food, less water, and better in an environment with lower of such resources.

What's the difference between Pony and Horse?

 

[The alchemist]

What's the difference between Pony and Horse?

A pony is a horse with a low height with specific distinct characteristics to behavior and phenotype. But a Somali horse is not a pony, just a smaller version of what it was due to environmental adaptation from pressuring conditions.

 

[World]

Those Mongolian animals couldn't survive in the Somali environment and vice versa. If Somali animals were minimal cold-adapted, then Somali domesticates are way superior than if the Mongolian herds had minimal desert resistance.

You're right about the size; technically Somali horses are not ponies. They're just smaller horses that adapted to the semi-arid desert environment. The diminutive stature, called ecological dwarfism, can help with energy efficiency. The body requires less food, less water, and better in an environment with lower of such resources.

I don’t mean that Mongolian animals can survive in our environment or vice versa, but that they subsist of water and pasture only. Just like our horses, they’re known for stamina, self sufficiency and ability to forage.

 

[Shimbiris]

I can see a reason or two why maybe farming-leaning agro-pastoralists prefer cattle with their sedentary subsistence strategy. I think you get more bang for the buck. The cattle can help out and it is fatter as well while only eating 1/3 more food than the camel. Less to handle and produces 5 times as much milk. As you move with the camel herd, those animals eat whatever they have available, doesn't matter, leaves, twigs, those annoying shrubs, everything. But if you had those on a farm, they would eat it all. I think to sustain a camel population, you are compelled to move seasonally (to natural cyclical ecosystems), otherwise, you're in trouble with them eating your ground up, producing way less milk per animal, etc.

Excellent point here, by the way. If you're not familiar with something like rotational grazing (a largely modern invention) and in a place that's quite lush to boot, camels can be quite the nightmare. They're not grazers like cattle and sheep. They're foragers like goats. They'll eat anything from shrubs to vines to leaves to grass. Saaxiibs will even chew on bones to get in some extra calcium and phosphorous. Opportunists. You'll kiss your little homestead goodbye quite quickly if you let them run rampant given how large they are compared to goats and thus how much greater their nutritional needs are. Our ancestors likely picked up on this in the more green zones and saw more use in cattle. The milk point is a good point to consider as well. You know your stuff, walaal. Mashallah.