As a safeguard against the extinction of the Wild Camel (Camelus ferus) in China and Mongolia, the Wild Camel Protection Foundation (WCPF) established the world’s only captive wild camel breeding program in Mongolia in 2003.
This initiative was developed with the full support of the Mongolian Ministry of Nature, Environment and Tourism (MNET), which allocated land within the buffer zone of the Great Gobi Strictly Protected Area ‘A’, the only natural habitat of the wild camel in Mongolia. Initial infrastructure, including several support buildings and a ten-kilometer protective fence, was constructed to establish the Wild Camel Breeding and Research Center at Zakhyn Us.
This center provides a unique and critical opportunity to study this remarkable and little-known species, while working to increase the global population under managed care as a safeguard against extinction.
In 2024, WCPF expanded this effort by establishing a second breeding center at Toli Bulag, approximately 260 km from Zakhyn Us. A portion of the captive population was successfully relocated to this new site in September 2024. The creation of a second, geographically separate population is a vital conservation strategy, ensuring that if catastrophic events impact either the wild population or the original breeding center, the Toli Bulag population can serve as a last line of defense for the species.
Notably, there are currently no Wild Camels in zoos anywhere in the world, making this program the sole global assurance population for this endangered species.