Minnesota Zoo welcomes baby camel

APPLE VALLEY, Minn. (FOX 9) - The man who famously coined the phrase "A Camel is a horse designed by a committee" clearly did not appreciate how endearing the sight of a baby camel standing next to its mother can be. 

Soon, Minnesotans will be able to judge for themselves by visiting the Minnesota Zoo, where a female Bactrian camel, Jenny, gave birth to a male calf on Feb. 8. 

According to the Zoo, the calf was standing within two hours of birth, is already nearly five feet tall and weighs 145 pounds. 

For now, as the tweet notes, the new calf is spending time "behind the scenes," bonding with his mother, but staff will introduce him to the rest of the herd, which includes now five camels —one adult male, two adult females, a juvenile female and this new calf — over the next few weeks.  

Bactrian camels are native to the Gobi desert in China and Mongolia, where the Zoo notes that "wildly fluctuating temperatures," rugged terrain, and scarce food and water supplies make life challenging.

They do seem to like snow, at least judging from this video of Bactrian camels at the Denver zoo in January. 

The Minnesota  Zoo will announce the name zookeepers have chosen for the camel and provide updates on his development via their social channels.