With Valentine’s Day approaching (yep, that happened fast!) we’ve begun thinking about how loving and romantic camels are. There is something so soothing on the soul to be in the company of these huge powerful creatures, who just want to nuzzle into your neck and watch the sunset with you.

But then we thought we’d share a different kind of love story unfolding at QCamel Farm right now. That of Priscilla, Prince and Sophie.

 

If you’ve been keeping up with us on Instagram and Facebook, you might have seen us live stream the birth of our last baby of the season, Prince. It was very exciting to capture such a beautiful moment on camera, as camels often give birth in secrecy. <You can check out the videos here and here>.

We weren’t sure how his mum, Priscilla, would go with her first born. She is probably our most nervous and timid camel despite being born at the farm. To everyone’s surprise, motherhood was the making of Priscilla. Her nervousness went away and she had a newfound confidence. This very skiddish camel suddenly became very cuddly. She doted on her little boy, who rightfully so, is the Prince of QCamel!

Not long after Prince was born, one of our other mums sadly passed away. Harriet had been unwell in the later part of her pregnancy and childbirth seemed to be too hard on her body. With her last strength, she fed her baby Sophie one final time, then went to sleep. Within the next few days, our entire camel herd began feeding little Sophie, in addition to extra milk from us.

People are often surprised that camels are incredibly emotional creatures with an intricate matriarchal society. There are much more similar to elephants. Camels have little celebrations when new camels are born and an entire herd can grieve the death of a member. When a mum or baby dies, the rest of the herd will often band together to adopt or support that camel.

Which is what happened with little Sophie. But as we watched her take drinks from Margery, Peggy, Biscuit and Pixie, we noticed her start to trot after Priscilla. Soon, wherever Prince would be, there would be Sophie. We found Priscilla nuzzling her and feeding her more and more. And when Priscilla and Prince went into their pen of a night time, Sophie would be nestled down with them.

So, it seems that while the whole herd banded together to feed Sophie, it was Priscilla who decided she would be her Mum. You can watch her turn around to make sure both are following behind. Her little twins – one white baby (Sophie) and one brown baby (Prince). <Check out this adorable video here>

Like we said, camels really are the most loving creatures.

 

If you would like to meet all our gorgeous mums and bubs, we hold regular Camel Cuddles farm tours at QCamel Dairy.
You can also book tickets to our Valentine’s Day: Camels and Canapes here for the ultimate romantic adventure on the Sunshine Coast. Whether it’s your first date or you’re married with kids, let our nuzzling camels and our spectacular sunset view reignite your spark this February 14th.