The present article reviews male camel behavior and breeding management strategies, providing an insight into the handling procedures and the most relevant welfare issues on these topics. Furthermore, it suggests some procedures for rearing, handling and collecting semen from camel bulls, based on results that have been achieved in the last twenty years and, recently, literature published with the aim of optimizing dromedary camel breeding. Camels are seasonal breeders and their breeding season (BS) is confined to the coolest winter months of the year; during the BS, also called “rutting period” or "rut", males exhibit morphological, behavioral and endocrinological peculiarities. Short breeding season, low libido and high aggressiveness are still some of the major cause of economic loss, poor reproductive performance and injuries, for camel breeding and industry. The application of ethology to approach, to train and to study camel bulls may be useful in the future to improve camel welfare and productive performances. Strong knowledge of animal learning and correct management procedure could be useful for camel technicians, owners, breeders, but also for veterinarians and others scientists.

Dromedary camel husbandry has recently been evolving towards a semi-intensive system, due to the changes in use of the animal and the settlement of nomadic populations. Captivity could restrict its social activities, limiting the expression of various behavioural needs and causing the manifestation of stereotypy. The aims of this trial were, firstly, to identify and describe some stereotypical behaviours in captive male dromedary camels used for artificial insemination and, secondly, to study the effects on them of the following husbandry management systems: i) housing in single boxes for 24 hours (H24), ii) housing in single boxes for 23 hours with one hour free in the paddock (H23), and iii) housing in single boxes for 22 hours 30 min with 1 h of paddock time and 30 min exposure to a female camel herd (ExF). Every day, the camels were filmed in their single box in the morning for 30 minutes to record their behavioural activities and a focal animal sampling ethogram was filled in. In this study, male camels showed both oral and locomotor stereotypy most frequently when the bulls were reared in H24. Overall, this preliminary study is a starting point in the identification of stereotypies in male camels, reporting the positive effects of spending one hour outdoor and of social interaction with females.

Female dromedary camel are seasonal breeders and induced ovulators therefore the follicular wave pattern differs from that of other domestic animals and notably it is composed of recruitment phase, growth phase, mature phase and regression phase. Ultrasonography allows a more clear determination of the ovarian activity. The optimum time for inducing ovulation, either with GnRH or hCG, is when the dominant follicle diameter measures between 13 and 18 mm. The semen should be deposited into the uterus at least 24 hours after induction of ovulation. Pregnancy rates depend on the number of sperm deposited and on the site of deposition as well as on the semen extender. The corpus luteum start developing two-three days after the ovulating stimulus and, if the maternal recognition of the pregnancy does not occur, it is completely regressed the 13th day after it. The placenta of camelids is epitheliochorial and the pregnancy is located in the left uterine horn in 98% of the cases. Pregnancy could be diagnosed at 18 days, by ultrasonography, or later if diagnosed by rectal palpation of the uterus. The pregnancy lasts about 13 months and the uterine involution is completed within 40 days after parturition. After parturition, the period of resumption of the ovarian activity is variable.