Glycemia in the camel (Camelus dromedarius) in Tunisia: preliminary results

The aim of this preliminary work was to determine blood glucose concentrati on in 138 camels living in the south Tunisian desertic area. In the adult c amels, the blood glucose concentration (6,10 +/- 0,16 mmol/l, n = 80) was s imilar to monogastric animals and higher than that known in other ruminants . It did not seem to be different according to sex or season, nor during ge station. However, the young camels (up to 2 years) and the lactating female s had significantly lower blood glucose concentration (3,90 +/- 0,22 mmol/l , n = 33, and 5,28 +/- 0,22 mmol/l, n = 10, respectively). These high gluco se concentration in the camel could be related to different regulation fact ors than in true ruminants.