Some hybrids in the animal kingdom happen naturally — like the grolar bear, a rare cross between a grizzly and a polar bear brought together by climate change. But others exist only because of human intervention. Enter the cama, a one-of-a-kind hybrid that combines traits of two species separated by 30 million years of evolution: the dromedary camel and the South American llama.

A creature born in the lab

The cama doesn’t exist in the wild. The first was born in Dubai in 1998 at the Camel Reproduction Center, thanks to artificial insemination performed by reproductive biologist Julian Skidmore. Its parents? A male dromedary (Camelus dromedarius) and a female llama (Lama glama). The offspring, named Rama, grew into what looked like an oversized llama with subtle camel-like features — tall, strong, with split hooves and dense wool, but notably without the camel’s iconic hump.

Standing around 1.5 meters at the shoulder and weighing between 150 and 250 kilos, the cama is an impressive figure. Its creation was possible because both parents share the same chromosome count — 74 — a rarity that allowed successful hybridization.

Why create such a hybrid?

The idea behind breeding camas was practical. In the Middle East, crossing camels and dromedaries is common practice to combine the strength of one with the milk production of the other. Scientists hoped that mixing a llama’s docility and manageability with a dromedary’s size and stamina might produce the ideal pack animal.

But reality proved more complex. Like many hybrids, most camas turned out to be sterile, and some developed aggressive temperaments. Ethical concerns soon followed, with critics questioning whether creating animals in a lab for utility alone was truly in their best interest.

Other fascinating hybrids

The cama isn’t alone in the hybrid world. Nature — and science — have produced a surprising array of mixed-species creatures:

• Wolphins, the rare offspring of a bottlenose dolphin and a false killer whale, are among the few fertile hybrids.
• Zebranes, the result of a zebra crossed with a donkey, share the spotlight with zorses, born of zebras and horses.
• In the feline world, the liger — a lion-tigress hybrid — holds the title of the largest cat on Earth, while jaglions (jaguar-lion hybrids) only exist in captivity.
• Then there’s the coywolf, a natural cross between coyotes and wolves, roaming across North America.

A reminder of nature’s boundaries

The cama may not have become the revolutionary pack animal scientists once hoped for, but it remains a fascinating example of how far hybridization can go. It also sparks a deeper debate: should humans create new animals simply because we can?

Whether viewed as a scientific marvel or a cautionary tale, the cama reminds us that the line between innovation and interference in the natural world is often a fine one.