Camel

A camel is a passive mob found in desert villages that can be saddled and ridden by up to two players at once. A camel is tall enough that its riders cannot be reached from the ground by a few melee-attacking harmful mobs, who do not attack the camel.

Spawning

A camel spawns in the center of each desert village during world generation. They do not respawn if they are killed.

Drops

1–3 experience orbs drop when camels are killed by a player or tamed wolf. A saddle is dropped if the camel was already equipped with one. Upon successful breeding, 1–7 is dropped. Killing a baby camel yields neither items nor experience.

Behavior

A camel wanders aimlessly, avoiding hazards and obstacles or it sits for two to seven seconds, before eventually getting up. Camels immediately get up and flee after being harmed. A seated camel cannot be pushed by players or mobs.^[1] Sitting camels do not stand up if there are solid blocks above them, as doing so would cause them to take suffocation damage immediately after.

Camels are healed by 2 health points each time they are fed a cactus. Camels also heal on their own over time slowly.

Despite the fact they are bred with cacti, touching a cactus block still harms camels like any other mob.

Camel village — A camel sitting in a desert village.

Camels have the unique ability to step up 1.5 block-high walls, unlike other mounts such as horses, which can automatically step up one block without jumping. This allows camels to step onto fences and walls, among other things.

Riding

Camels can be ridden by players. Up to two players can ride one camel. While riding, the player in the back seat cannot hurt the player driving or the camel itself.

Camels have one slot in their inventory, to put a Saddle on it. A saddle can be placed on a camel by holding it and then using it on the camel, or by accessing its inventory. A camel's inventory can be accessed by mounting the camel and using inventory control, or by sneaking and then using or pressing the "open inventory" button‌^{[Bedrock Edition only]} on the camel.

Once a camel is saddled, the player can control it with standard directional controls, jump, and the mouse. The player dismounts using the dismount control. Like riding other entities, it is impossible for a player to use a nether portal or end portal while on a camel.

Camels cannot float on water when being controlled by a player. They can be ridden in water up to 3 blocks deep. In deeper water, the player is automatically dismounted.^[2]

Husks can't reach — Several husks trying to attack Efe.

Camels walk slowly and can sprint. Saddled camels also have the ability of "dashing charging". When the player rides them, the experience bar on HUD is replaced by a dash charging bar. Dashing is done using the jump control, and holding the control charges for a longer dashing. Camels can dash every 2.75 seconds. When dashing, the camel launches up to 12 blocks forward and one block upward. For a short time after dashing, the camel cannot sprint.

Camels are tall enough that most melee hostile mobs such as zombies, vindicators, hoglins, silverfish, endermites and golden sword-wielding piglins cannot reach players to attack them. Spiders, wolves, slimes and magma cubes can attack because they jump or climb while attacking. Most mobs never deliberately attack camels under any circumstance, even to reach players riding one; the only exceptions are mobs that attack all other mobs, these being zoglins and vindicators named "Johnny".

Breeding

A camel follows the player who holds a cactus but stops following the player if it is separated from the player by at least 10 blocks‌^{[Java Edition only]} / 16 blocks‌^{[Bedrock Edition only]}. Sitting camels do not follow the player. Adult camels enter love mode and breed to create baby camels after they are each given a cactus. The parents have a cooldown of five minutes before they can breed again. The growth time that baby camels take to be an adult camel can be reduced by giving the baby camel cactus.

Sounds

Java Edition:
Camels use the Friendly Creatures sound category for entity-dependent sound events.

Subtitles	Source	Description	Resource location	Translation key	Volume	Pitch	Attenuation distance
Camel grunts	Friendly Creatures	Randomly	`entity.camel.ambient`	`subtitles.entity.camel.ambient`	varies ^{[sound 1]}	0.8-1.2 (Baby: 1.3-1.7)	16
Camel dies	Friendly Creatures	When a camel dies	`entity.camel.death`	`subtitles.entity.camel.death`	0.8	0.8-1.2 (Baby: 1.3-1.7)	16
Camel hurts	Friendly Creatures	When a camel is damaged	`entity.camel.hurt`	`subtitles.entity.camel.hurt`	0.8	0.8-1.2 (Baby: 1.3-1.7)	16
Camel sits down	Friendly Creatures	When a camel sits	`entity.camel.sit`	`subtitles.entity.camel.sit`	0.3	0.8-1.2 (Baby: 1.3-1.7)	16
Camel stands up	Friendly Creatures	When a camel stands	`entity.camel.stand`	`subtitles.entity.camel.stand`	0.3	0.8-1.2 (Baby: 1.3-1.7)	16
Camel eats	Friendly Creatures	When a camel is fed a cactus	`entity.camel.eat`	`subtitles.entity.camel.eat`	varies^{[sound 2]}	0.8-1.2	16
Saddle equips	Friendly Creatures	When a saddle is equipped to a camel	`entity.camel.saddle`	`subtitles.entity.horse.saddle`	0.5	0.8	16
Camel yeets	Friendly Creatures	When a camel dashes	`entity.camel.dash`	`subtitles.entity.camel.dash`	1.0	1.0	16
Camel recovers	Friendly Creatures	When a camel's dash ability resets	`entity.camel.dash_ready`	`subtitles.entity.camel.dash_ready`	0.25	1.0	16
Something fell	Friendly Creatures	When a camel falls from more than 1 block	`entity.horse.land`	`subtitles.entity.generic.big_fall`	0.4	1.0	16
Footsteps	Friendly Creatures	While a camel is walking	`entity.camel.step`	`subtitles.block.generic.footsteps`	0.5	1.0	16
Footsteps	Friendly Creatures	While a camel is walking on sand, red sand, concrete powder, or suspicious sand^{[sound 3]}	`entity.camel.step_sand`	`subtitles.block.generic.footsteps`	0.45	1.0	16

↑ 0.36 for ambient1 and ambient2, 0.4 for ambient3 through ambient6, and 0.24 for ambient7 and ambient8
↑ 0.1, 0.2, or 0.3
↑ Blocks in the #camel_sand_step_sound_blocks tag

Bedrock Edition:

Source	Description	Resource location	Volume	Pitch
Friendly Creatures	Randomly	`mob.camel.ambient`	varies ^{[sound 1]}	0.8-1.2 (Baby: 1.3-1.7)
Friendly Creatures	When a camel dies	`mob.camel.death`	1.0	0.8-1.2 (Baby: 1.3-1.7)
Friendly Creatures	When a camel is damaged	`mob.camel.hurt`	1.0	0.8-1.2 (Baby: 1.3-1.7)
Friendly Creatures	When a camel sits	`mob.camel.sit`	0.3	1.0 ^{[sound 2]}
Friendly Creatures	When a camel stands	`mob.camel.stand`	0.3	1.0 ^{[sound 2]}
Friendly Creatures	When a camel is fed a cactus	`mob.camel.eat`	0.2	0.8-1.2
Friendly Creatures	When a saddle is equipped to a camel	`mob.horse.leather`	1.0	0.8-1.2
Friendly Creatures	When a camel dashes	`mob.camel.dash`	1.0	1.0
Friendly Creatures	When a camel's dash ability resets	`mob.camel.dash_ready`	0.25	1.0
Friendly Creatures	While a camel is walking	`mob.camel.step`	0.5	0.8-1.2 (Baby: 1.3-1.7)
Friendly Creatures	While a camel is walking on sand, red sand, concrete powder, or suspicious sand	`mob.camel.step_sand`	0.45	0.8-1.2 (Baby: 1.3-1.7)

↑ 0.45 for ambient1 and ambient2, 0.5 for ambient3 through ambient6, and 0.3 for ambient7 and ambient8
↑ ^a ^b MCPE-169568 — Baby camel sit and stand sounds are not higher pitched

Data values

ID

Java Edition:

Name	Identifier	Translation key
Camel	`camel`	`entity.minecraft.camel`

Bedrock Edition:

Name	Identifier	Numeric ID	Translation key
Camel	`camel`	`138`	`entity.camel.name`

Entity data

Camels have entity data associated with them that contain various properties.

Java Edition:

Entity data
- Additional fields for mobs that can breed
- Tags common to all entities
- Tags common to all mobs
- Tags common to all horses
- LastPoseTick: The tick when the camel started changing its pose.

Bedrock Edition:

See Bedrock Edition level format/Entity format.

Advancements

Advancement	In-game description	Parent	Actual requirements (if different)	Resource location
It Spreads	Kill a mob near a Sculk Catalyst	Monster Hunter	Kill one of these 70 mobs near a sculk catalyst: Axolotl Bee Blaze Camel Cat Cave Spider Chicken Chicken Jockey Cod Cow Creeper Donkey Dolphin Drowned Elder Guardian Enderman Endermite Evoker Fox Frog Ghast Goat Glow Squid Guardian Hoglin Horse Husk Llama Magma Cube Mooshroom Ocelot Panda Parrot Phantom Pig Piglin Piglin Brute Pillager Polar Bear Pufferfish Rabbit Ravager Salmon Sheep Shulker Silverfish Skeleton Skeleton Horse Skeleton Horseman Slime Sniffer Stray Spider Spider Jockey Squid Strider Trader Llama Tropical Fish Turtle Vex Vindicator Warden Witch Wither Wither Skeleton Wolf Zoglin Zombie Zombie Villager Zombified Piglin Mobs that drop no experience are ignored for this advancement.	`adventure/kill_mob_near_sculk_catalyst`
The Parrots and the Bats	Breed two animals together	Husbandry	Breed a pair of any of these 25 mobs: Axolotl Bee Camel Cat Chicken Cow Donkey Fox Frog Goat Hoglin Horse Llama Mooshroom Mule Ocelot Panda Pig Rabbit Sheep Sniffer Strider Trader Llama Turtle Wolf A mule must be the result of breeding a horse and a donkey for this advancement as they are not breedable together. Other breedable mobs are ignored for this advancement.	`husbandry/breed_an_animal`
Two by Two	Breed all the animals!	The Parrots and the Bats	Breed a pair of each of these 24 mobs: Axolotl Bee Camel Cat Chicken Cow Donkey Fox Frog Goat Hoglin Horse Llama Mooshroom Mule Ocelot Panda Pig Rabbit Sheep Sniffer Strider Turtle Wolf A trader llama does not count as a llama, and a mule must be the result of breeding a horse and a donkey for this advancement as they are not breedable together. Other breedable mobs can be bred, but are ignored for this advancement.	`husbandry/bred_all_animals`

Video

History

Java Edition
October 15, 2022		Camels are announced at Minecraft Live 2022. Minecraft's camels are more specifically based on the dromedary, a kind of camel that has one hump on its back.
1.20 (Experimental)	22w42a	Added camels behind the Update 1.20 experimental datapack.
1.20 (Experimental)	22w43a	The camel's walking animation has been tweaked to more closely mirror how real camels walk.
1.20	23w12a	Camels are now available without using the "Update 1.20" experimental datapack.
1.20.2	23w31a	Camels no longer stand up when opaque blocks are placed over them, preventing them from taking suffocation damage as they stand up.^[3]
		Camels now trigger sculk sensors when they stand up, sit down or dash.^[4]^[5]
		Camels are now able to panic when attached to leads.^[6]
		The pitch values for baby camels for getting up and laying down are now correct.^[7]
		Camels walking on suspicious sand, red sand, or concrete powder now plays the sound specific to sand blocks, instead of the generic stepping sound.^[8] The translation key has also been changed accordingly, from `subtitles.entity.camel.step_sand` to `subtitles.block.generic.footsteps`.
	23w32a	The subtitle for the generic stepping sounds of various mobs, including camels, have now been corrected.^[9] The translation key has also been changed accordingly, from `subtitles.entity.camel.step` to `subtitles.block.generic.footsteps`.
Bedrock Edition
Next Major Update (Experimental)	beta 1.19.50.21	Added camels behind the "Next Major Update" experimental toggle.
	beta 1.19.50.22	Camels now heal over time.
	beta 1.19.50.22	The camel's walking animation has been tweaked to more closely mirror how real camels walk.
	beta 1.19.60.25	Camels no longer get pulled into ridable entities.
1.20.0	beta 1.20.0.21	Camels are now available without using the "Next Major Update" experimental toggle.
1.20.30	beta 1.20.20.21	Camels now make sand stepping sounds instead of generic stepping sounds for suspicious sand,^[verify] red sand, and concrete powder.^[10]

Issues

Issues relating to "Camel" are maintained on the bug tracker. Report issues there.

Trivia

Minecraft camels are specifically based on the one-humped dromedary camel, though the first model was based on the two-humped Bactrian camel.^[11]
The camel is the tallest passive mob in Minecraft, being 2.375 blocks tall, and is the only passive mob with a height greater than 2 blocks.
- It is also the largest passive mob in terms of hitbox size, with a volume of 6.86375 m³.
- In comparison, the player's hitbox volume is 0.648 m³, less than one tenth of that of the camel.

Gallery

Screenshots

A saddled camel sitting next to a player.
Alex and Zuri riding a camel.
Steve riding a camel out of the sunset.
Kai parking a camel.

Renders

A camel.
A camel sitting.
A camel standing up.
A camel walking.
A camel dashing.
A saddled camel.
A saddled camel sitting.
A saddled camel standing up.
A saddled camel walking.
A saddled camel dashing.

Trails & Tales Event

Camel Mask
Camel Hat
Camel Balloon
Camel Carousel
The Camel Carousel moving animation.
Balloon bundle, also featuring two sniffers.
The balloon bundle animated.
Secret Camel
The Camel Canyon cutout, featured in the Trails & Tales Event.
The icon for the Camel Mask, an item in the Trails & Tales event.
The icon for the Camel Hat, an item in the Trails & Tales event.
The icon for the Camel Balloon, an item in the Trails & Tales event.

Concept art

Concept art of the camel showcasing the different coloring and face shapes considered during development.
Concept art of the camel showcasing the many designs of its face.
Concept art of the camel showcasing the camel's height next to a player and three blocks.

Development images

A prototype version of the camel in Java Edition.
Four prototype camels looking at the player in Bedrock Edition.
Camel t posing.
Bugged camel's walking animation.

Official artwork

The camel Xbox giveaway.^[12]
Render of the camel Xbox.
Camels with Sunny
Steve and Alex dashing on a camel off a cliff, as depicted in the Trails & Tales trailer.^[13]
Camels with a wandering trader
Promotional artwork for Trails & Tales featuring camels on a map.^[14]
Alex and Sunny riding a camel.
Sunny and Alex riding a camel in an advertisement for a Back to School sale.^[15]
Steve approaching a camel about “becoming his sidekick.”