Genetic studies have established it as a separate species which diverged from the Bactrian camel about 0.7–1.1 million years ago.

They have tough undivided soles with two large toes that spread wide apart, and a horny layer which enables them to walk on rough and hot stony or sandy terrain.

Their thick and shaggy body hair changes colour to[clarification needed] light brown or beige during winter.

[14][15] Like its close relative, the domesticated Bactrian camel, it is one of the few mammals able[citation needed] to eat snow to provide itself with liquids in the winter.

[22] Wild Bactrian camels generally move in groups of up to 30 individuals, although 6 to 20 is more common depending on the amount of food available.

Wild Bactrian camels travel over long distances, seeking water in places close to mountains where springs are found, and hill slopes covered in snow provide some moisture in winter.

The size of a herd may be as many as 100 camels but generally consists of 2–15 members in a group; this is reported to be due to arid environment and heavy poaching.

[10] In ancient times, wild Bactrian camels were seen from the great bend of the Yellow River extending west to the Inner Mongolian deserts and further to Northwest China and central Kazakhstan.

In the 1800s, due to hunting for its meat and hide, its presence was noted in remote areas of the Taklamakan, Kumtag and Gobi deserts in China and Mongolia.

After China signed the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty in 1996, the camels were reclassified as an endangered species on the IUCN Red List.

[14] The UK-based Wild Camel Protection Foundation (WCPF) estimates that there are only about 950 individuals of the species left in the world, with its current population trend still decreasing.

[29] Observations made during five field expeditions starting in 1993 by John Hare and the WCPF suggest that the surviving populations may be facing an 80% decline within the next 30 years.

[25] Other threats include scarcity of access to water such as oases, attacks by wolves, hybridization with domestic Bactrians leading to a concern of a loss of genetically distinct populations or infertile individuals which could potentially ward off viable bulls from a large number of females during their lifetimes, toxic effluent releases from illegal mining, re-designation of wildlife areas as industrial zones, and sharing grazing areas with domestic animals.

[1] Due to increasing human populations, wild Bactrian camels that migrate in search of grazing land may compete for food and water sources with introduced domestic stock and are sometimes shot by farmers.

Two programmes instituted in this respect are the Great Gobi Reserve A in Mongolia, set up in 1982; and the Lop Nur Wild Camel National Nature Reservein China, established in 2000.