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A pack animal, also known as a sumpter animal or beast of burden, is an individual or type of working animal used by humans as means of transporting materials by attaching them so their weight bears on the animal's back, in contrast to draft animals which pull loads but do not carry them. Traditional pack animals are diverse including camels, goats, yaks, reindeer, water buffaloes, and llamas as well as the more familiar pack animals like dogs, horses, donkeys, and mules. The term pack animal is traditionally used in contrast to draft animal, which is a working animal that typically pulls a load behind itself (such as a plow, a cart, a sled or a heavy log) rather than carrying cargo directly on its back. For instance, sled dogs pull loads but do not normally carry them, while working elephants have been used for centuries to haul logs out of forests. The term pack animal can also refer to animals which naturally live and hunt in packs in the wild, such as wolves, hyenas, dogs etc., i.e. pack hunters. Traditional pack animals include ungulates such as camels, the domestic yak, reindeer, goats, water buffaloes and llama, and domesticated members of the horse family including horses, donkeys, and mules. Occasionally, dogs can be used to carry small loads. Arctic - Reindeer and sled dogs Central Africa and Southern Africa - Oxen, mules, donkeys Eurasia - Donkeys, oxen, Horses, mules Central Asia - Bactrian camels, yaks, Horses, mules, donkeys South and Southeast Asia - Water buffaloes, yaks, Asian elephants North America - Horses, mules, donkeys, goats North Africa and Middle East - Dromedaries, horses, donkeys, mules, oxen Oceania - Donkeys, horses, dromedaries, mules, oxen South America - Llamas, donkeys, mules File:Eylcamel.jpg|A [[nomad]]'s pack [[camel]] in [[Eyl]], [[Somalia]] File:Reindeer and pack, with Lapp driver.jpg|Pack [[reindeer]] with [[Sami people|Sami]] driver from ''The land of the midnight sun'', c. 1881 File:Fleischextrakt 0002773 m.

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Working animal

A working animal is an animal, usually domesticated, that is kept by humans and trained to perform tasks instead of being slaughtered to harvest animal products. Some are used for their physical strength (e.g. oxen and draft horses) or for transportation (e.g. riding horses and camels), while others are service animals trained to execute certain specialized tasks (e.g. hunting and guide dogs, messenger pigeons and fishing cormorants). They may also be used for milking or herding.

Dromedary

The dromedary (Camelus dromedarius UKˈdrʌmɪdəri,_"drɒm- or US-%dɛri;), also known as the dromedary camel, Arabian camel, or one-humped camel, is a large even-toed ungulate, of the genus Camelus, with one hump on its back. It is the tallest of the three species of camel; adult males stand at the shoulder, while females are tall. Males typically weigh between , and females weigh between . The species' distinctive features include its long, curved neck, narrow chest, a single hump (compared with two on the Bactrian camel and wild Bactrian camel), and long hairs on the throat, shoulders and hump.

Bactrian camel

The Bactrian camel (Camelus bactrianus), also known as the Mongolian camel, domestic Bactrian camel or two-humped camel, is a large even-toed ungulate native to the steppes of Central Asia. It has two humps on its back, in contrast to the single-humped dromedary. Its population of 2 million exists mainly in the domesticated form. Their name comes from the ancient historical region of Bactria. Domesticated Bactrian camels have served as pack animals in inner Asia since ancient times.

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