BABIL, Iraq — Foreigners often associate camels with Arabs, who make up the majority of the Iraqi people. The Arab camel is ubiquitous in Western culture and literature, just like the Russian bear or the Chinese dragon. However, today the camel population has declined in Iraq and very few can be spotted in the wild. The camels that once wandered the cities are now fading, even in the depths of the desert.

Abdullah al-Shamri, a 60-year-old camel herder from an area west of Karbala, 80 kilometers (50 miles) south of Baghdad, told Al-Monitor, “The lack of pasture due to the scarcity of rainfall has pushed a lot of camel herders to leave this profession and migrate to the outskirts of cities.” He added, “But they could not give up camel breeding altogether, so they contented themselves with a few camels they raise around the temporary houses they built.”

Iraq’s Bedouin were known to have raised camels for hundreds of years and trained them to carry their tents and belongings from one place to another. Shamri said, “Camels can carry about 400 kilograms [882 pounds] and can go without drinking for several days. They are like the ships of the desert: Without them, people cannot survive it.”

He explained, “In the 1950s and 1960s, our people used to safely cross the international border with Saudi Arabia without hindrance. Today, security personnel and border guards stop us, so the number of camels has decreased.”