I'm sure most regular visitors to the Los Angeles Zoo, have recognized the Giraffe Exhibit used in the filming of this latest GEICO commercial. We no longer exhibit either Bactrian or Dromedary camels here. If one looks carefully you can even spy several chimps staring in the background; sitting in their Chimpanzees of the Mahale Mountains habitat. Camels At The Zoo Commercial: ?Hey, Mike! Hump Day!? GEICO YouTube Ad Gets 1.7M Views mike-hump-day-geico-youtube-ad-gets-1-7m-views/
Obviously working camels brought in for the commercial, but they look kind of odd to me. They have two humps (Bactrian) but look much more slender and less hairy than the ones I have seen at various zoos. Are working camels always this way or is there a chance they are Bactrian-dromedary hybrids?
I think they look a bit like wild Bactrians [ame=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wild_Bactrian_camel]Wild Bactrian camel - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia[/ame]
These are not zoo Bactrians. Usually zoo camels are over-weight, sometimes they're obese. They probably have lost their winter coats and may have been groomed. Wild Bactrians aren't in any zoos I know of. Bactrians are less numerous than Dromedaries. DromedaryxBactrian camels look more robust than either parent and have one hump.