By Sehr Khosla
As temperatures rise and climate variability increases, even the camel is struggling to survive across the Horn of Africa.
Camel train in Danakil Desert in Ethiopia’s Afar Region. By Ji-Elle. CC BY-SA 3.0.
For centuries, camels have embodied resilience. Nicknamed the "ships of the desert," they evolved to survive scorching temperatures, scarce water and some of the harshest landscapes on Earth. As droughts intensified across the Horn of Africa, many pastoralists abandoned cattle in favor of camels, believing the animals would withstand a hotter future.
Now, even they are beginning to falter.
Across Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia, herders are reporting blistered feet from burning ground, heat exhaustion, dehydration and rising deaths among camel calves. Ali Umer, a camel herder in Ethiopia’s Afar Region, told the BBC he had lost eight calves in a single month as temperatures climbed.
"Even the wind, which used to bring cool air, now carries heat," Umer said.
Scientists say these are no longer isolated incidents, with a 2025 study in southern Ethiopia demonstrating that rising temperatures and increasing climate variability were already harming camel health, productivity and reproduction. Moreover, recently published research in Somalia linked prolonged drought to soaring camel mortality, with some regions recording losses approaching 73%.
These animals evolved over millions of years to master extreme heat, making the irony difficult to ignore. If even camels are reaching their physiological limits, researchers say climate change may be pushing faster than evolution can keep up.
That concern extends well beyond Africa’s deserts.
Polar bears, perhaps the world's most recognizable climate casualty, are becoming smaller and less genetically diverse as Arctic sea ice disappears. A major review published this year by Polar Bears International found there is little evidence that polar bears are genetically adapting quickly enough to match the pace of warming.
Coral reefs tell a similar story. Scientists are now investigating "assisted evolution," deliberately breeding heat-tolerant corals, because natural adaptation alone is unlikely to keep pace with increasingly frequent marine heatwaves. The idea would once have seemed extraordinary but is now becoming part of mainstream conservation planning.
Evolution has always relied on time, with species adapting gradually as advantageous traits accumulate over thousands, sometimes millions, of years. Climate change, by contrast, is unfolding over decades. This mismatch is beginning to reshape ecosystems that once appeared remarkably resilient.
For communities across the Horn of Africa, the consequences are immediate. Camels are not simply livestock; they are transport, income, food security and cultural identity. As extreme heat dries grazing land and pushes temperatures beyond 122 F (50 C), the animals that families turned to as a safeguard against climate change are themselves becoming increasingly vulnerable.
For decades, camels represented nature’s answer to the desert.
Their struggle raises a far more unsettling possibility: perhaps the question is no longer which species can adapt to climate change, but whether climate change is now moving faster than adaptation itself.
GET INVOLVED:
International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI): A nonprofit global research center that works alongside pastoralist communities across Africa to improve livestock health, strengthen food security and help farmers adapt to rising temperatures through climate-resilient agriculture.
World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF): WWF supports projects that restore habitats, conserve biodiversity and help communities adapt to the growing impacts of climate change, from African drylands to coral reefs and polar regions.
Global Center on Adaptation (GCA): The GCA is an international organization that partners with governments and communities around the world to develop practical solutions for people living on the front lines of climate change, including improving drought resilience and protecting livelihoods threatened by extreme heat.
Sehr Khosla
Sehr is a student at Georgetown University studying Classics and Government with a minor in Journalism. In the future, she hopes to combine her passion for social justice with communications to advocate for change. Outside of writing, she enjoys travelling and reading murder mysteries.