Osteo-biometric study of the Sahraoui and Targui dromedaries

This study was realized on a sample of 120 dromedaries of Sahraoui and Targui breeds from the south of Algeria (60 individuals of each breed). The animals, 30 males and 30 females for each of the two breeds are adults over 5 years destined for slaughter. Before slaughter in Ouargla abattoir, measurements were performed (3 parameters). Carcass weight was recovered at the slaughterhouse. The metapodials or canon bones were taken (one left metacarpus and metatarsus of each animal), were weighed and measured after boiling and drying (16 variables per animal). Gracility indices of bones were calculated (6 indices per animal). The variability and correlations between variables were analyzed and allow while realizing a referential for archeozoology, to consider the ability to grasp certain parameters of live animal from bone measurements. The comparison of two camel breeds, closely similar, is of a great interest in the variability's examination of a bone collection found in an archaeological site. On other hand, sexual dimorphism appears clearly at the level of metapodial: males have longer and more robust canon bones, in both breeds, which is a remarkable difference in comparison to those encountered in other ruminants like cattle or sheep in which bone length is not a parameter of sexual dimorphism.