Handout photo issued by Mainsgill Farm of Doris the camel (right) with her as yet unnamed calf and farmer Bob Shaw at Mainsgill Farm in Richmond, North Yorkshire. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Issue date: Thursday April 17, 2014. Farmer Andrew and Maria Henshaw had no idea that Doris the camel, who lives with her half-sister Delilah, was in the family way until she began to calve. Mr Henshaw, who runs the Mainsgill Farm Shop near Richmond, North Yorkshire, said he half suspected Jimmy the llama in the pen next to Doris may be responsible, as he is such a rascal. But he reckoned that Doris, who has not been near a male camel from more than a year, was impregnanted before she was brought from a farm in Cornwall to North Yorkshire. See PA story ANIMALS Camel. Photo credit should read: Nichola Hammond/PA WireNOTE TO EDITORS: This handout photo may only be used in for editorial reporting purposes for the contemporaneous illustration of events, things or the people in the image or facts mentioned in the caption. Reuse of the picture may require further permission from the copyright holder.
PA
Farmer Andrew and Maria Henshaw were stunned to find out one of their two camels was giving birth - as they are both female.
The owners of the farm shop and tea shop did not even know that Dosir the camel, who lives with her half-sister Delilah was expecting until she began to calve.
So who is responsible for the mystery birth?
Mr Henshaw, who runs the Mainsgill Farm Shop near Richmond, North Yorkshire, said he half suspected Jimmy the llama in the pen next to Doris may be responsible, as he is such a rascal. But he reckoned that Doris, who has not been near a male camel from more than a year, was impregnanted before she was brought from a farm in Cornwall to North Yorkshire.
Mr Henshaw had been up early lambing and was leaving the shed to scrub up and open the tea shop when an experienced livestockman came running over to tell him one of the camels was giving birth.
"I said 'you're joking' when he told me," Mr Henshaw said. "By the time we got there the feet and head were out and so we gave it a tug and it came out.
"This was totally out of the blue. When he was first born he sounded like a dinosaur with the noise he was making, like something off Jurassic Park.
"Now a few hours later, he looks like a giraffe with his long neck, or the Loch Ness monster because of his two floppy humps."
Handout photo issued by Mainsgill Farm of Doris the camel's as-yet-unnamed calf at Mainsgill Farm in Richmond, North Yorkshire, the owners of the farm shop and tea shop were stunned to find Doris, one of their two camels was giving birth today - as they are both female. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Issue date: Thursday April 17, 2014. Farmer Andrew and Maria Henshaw had no idea that Doris the camel, who lives with her half-sister Delilah, was in the family way until she began to calve. Mr Henshaw, who runs the Mainsgill Farm Shop near Richmond, North Yorkshire, said he half suspected Jimmy the llama in the pen next to Doris may be responsible, as he is such a rascal. But he reckoned that Doris, who has not been near a male camel from more than a year, was impregnanted before she was brought from a farm in Cornwall to North Yorkshire. See PA story ANIMALS Camel. Photo credit should read: Nichola Hammond/PA WireNOTE TO EDITORS: This handout photo may only be used in for editorial reporting purposes for the contemporaneous illustration of events, things or the people in the image or facts mentioned in the caption. Reuse of the picture may require further permission from the copyright holder.
The family will keep the male baby camel and are running a competition to name the new arrival. Mr Henshaw, a 46-year-old father of three, said the family bought Doris and Delilah to replace Kevin the camel when he died last year, as he had been so popular with visitors.
He said camels' gestation period can last 12 to 15 months and he believed that a llama giving birth in the next pen a few days ago may have spurred Doris on.
