Hematological studies in the normal adult Indian camel (Camelus dromedarius)

¹ Department of Physiology, Bikaner Medical College, Bikaner, India

The normal blood picture, different blood indices, and electrophoretic mobility of hemoglobin were determined in the Indian camel with one hump (Camelus dromidarius). The different values were as follows: erythrocytes, 7.24 million/mm³; hematocrit, 27%; size of red cell, 7.7 µ x 4.2 µ; hemoglobin, 13.1 g/100 ml; mean corpuscular volume, 37.9 µ³; mean corpuscular hemoglobin, 17.4 µµg; mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration, 47%; red cell sedimentation rate, 1.1 mm/hr; leukocytes, 18,000/mm³; neutrophils, 51%; eosinophils, 6%; basophils, 0.05%; lymphocytes, 40%; and monocytes, 3%. The electrophoretic mobility of camel hemoglobin was less than the mobility of human and monkey hemoglobin and the hemoglobinogram showed only one minor component. In the one-humped Indian camel, the number of red cells was less, the size bigger, and the hematocrit value lower than the values reported for the two-humped camel (Camelus bactrianus).