Heat stress represents significant challenges for livestock, adversely affecting their production, reproduction, and overall welfare. This study aimed to explore the interrelationships between environmental and animal-related factors and the flank temperature (FT) and eye temperature (ET) recorded using IRT in dromedary camels. This study was conducted in the Cholistan Desert in 2023, and IRT images of the eyes and flanks were captured from 510 camels across 54 herds. During the image analyses, pictures taken from 499 camels were of good quality and included. The camels were of both sexes and of various ages (minimum 3 years, pubertal and adult stages), and they had diverse physiological statuses (breeding, immature, lactating, non-lactating, and pregnant). Before taking the IRT pictures, ambient temperature and humidity were registered using a weather station, and light intensity was recorded using a lux meter. The ET was associated only with physiological status (p < 0.05), with pregnant females showing the lowest values, while no effects of physiological status, sex, or age were found for FT. The environmental temperature showed a positive correlation with both ET (r = 0.7887) and FT (r = 0.6280), highlighting the sensitivity of camel thermoregulation to temperature fluctuations. As expected, a strong positive correlation between ET and FT (r = 0.6643) was found. Conversely, a significant negative correlation was observed between humidity and ET (−0.7444) and FT (−0.5519), indicating that higher humidity levels lead to decreased temperatures in both regions. Light intensity (lux) exhibited minimal influence on both temperatures, with correlations of 0.1019 for ET and 0.2650 for FT. This study contributes to the field of precision livestock farming by suggesting a possible application of IRT for detecting thermal stress in camels in pastoral settings.

This study aimed to describe how to train dromedary camels to self-load and unload using positive-reinforcement-based training and to examine its effects on behavior and welfare. Twelve camels, six unbroken male camels (group A) and six broken mixed-gender camels (group B), underwent nine days of positive reinforcement training, after an initial day of behavioral tests. The training session included six phases: loading the clicker, approaching the truck, ramp, truck, unloading, and returning to the station. Eye temperature was measured before and after training using infrared thermography, and training was recorded for further behavioral analysis. Overall, eight camels (66.7%) loaded and unloaded successfully at least once. The average total and daily training duration were 72 and 8.5 min per camel, respectively, with the fastest camel able to load taking only 30 min of total training over five days. Loading the clicker phase decreased by 41% per additional training day (p < 0.001) and was higher in camels that completed the training session compared to unsuccessful individuals (p = 0.027). Similarly, the time required to approach the truck decreased significantly across training days (p < 0.001). Training day had no effect on the duration of the ramp phase; however, this phase was overall shorter in the group of successful camels (p = 0.038). Loading inside the truck increased by 50% with each additional training day (p = 0.007). Camels in group B had significantly lower maximum eye temperatures than those in group A (p = 0.019), with no significant effect of day or time (p = 0.373). In conclusion, our study shows that training dromedary camels to self-load and unload is possible and does not increase eye temperature. It could mitigate transport stress, improving the safety of handlers and camels.