Minecraft camels: what we know about our upcoming desert pals

Minecraft camel - the camel relaxes next to an oasis
(Image credit: Mojang)

Hop on up here and join us for a Minecraft camel tour. While the newly named Minecraft 1.20 'Trails and Tales' update is still sneaking around the horizon, we've got an oasis of info on the newest cute and derpy mob, and it's even made an early appearance in snapshots.

As you may have guessed, the next upcoming mob will populate Minecraft's deserts, giving some life and diversity to the endless hills of sand and occasional cactus. Even better, they're absolutely adorable and the perfect floppy-eared companion to choose for your latest build. Here's what we know about the Minecraft camel as it makes its way towards release.

What do Minecraft camels do?

Meandering around the sands of the desert and clustering in desert villages, the new camel will join the exclusive—and small—family of desert dwelling mobs. But more than just hanging out as four legged scenery, the camel will be in a few other exclusive clubs. While the cutest club  it joins with release may be animals that can sit, there are a few other more important things the camel brings to the table.

Best of Minecraft

Minecraf 1.18 key art

(Image credit: Mojang)

Minecraft update: What's new?
Minecraft skins (opens in new tab): New looks
Minecraft mods (opens in new tab):  Beyond vanilla
Minecraft shaders (opens in new tab): Spotlight
Minecraft seeds (opens in new tab): Fresh new worlds
Minecraft texture packs (opens in new tab): Pixelated
Minecraft servers: Online worlds
Minecraft commands: All cheats

While joining animals like the horse, pig, and llama as an animal you can ride, what's even cooler is that the camel is the first animal in Minecraft that you can ride with a friend. Based on their unique size and real life capacity for multiple riders, the Minecraft camel is going to let you bring a pal along to ride with you. Perfect for those long sightseeing expeditions, or just bringing back your latest mining haul with a buddy.

We also know that the camel is going to have a "unique riding experience" and will be able to dash horizontally across ravines or rivers instead of having a high vertical jump like the horses. While mounted, Mojang says that certain mobs won't be able to reach you to attack, making them great desert battle mounts.

So lets recap what we know about our new camel buddies:

(Image credit: Mojang)
  • Where do you find camels? Deserts, specifically desert villages. 
  • Can camels be bred? Yes, camels will eat cactus, as some do in real life.
  • Can camels be tamed? It seems likely, since they can be bred, but we don't know for sure.
  • Are camels hostile? Nope. They're friendly fellas.
  • Can camels jump extra high like horses? No, Mojang has said their specialty will be the dash feature.
  • Will camels have inventories like donkeys? Nope, no inventories on them.
  • Can you ride camels? Absolutely, and so can a friend!

Can I check out Minecraft camels already?

You bet your humps you can, they've already been added in with snapshot 22w42a, and then revised once already to fix a bug that allowed passengers to trigger the camel's dash ability while riding in the back, and then again in snapshot 22w46a to fix an animation bug. You can bet they'll continue to get refined in additional snapshots and preview builds of Minecraft, although nothing will be as amusing as the idea of a passenger convincing the camel to go for a surprise run.

Philip Palmer

Phil is a contributor for PC Gamer, formerly of TechRadar Gaming. With four years of experience writing freelance for several publications, he's covered every genre imaginable. For 15 years he's done technical writing and IT documentation, and more recently traditional gaming content. He has a passion for the appeal of diversity, and the way different genres can be sandboxes for creativity and emergent storytelling. With thousands of hours in League of Legends, Overwatch, Minecraft, and countless survival, strategy, and RPG entries, he still finds time for offline hobbies in tabletop RPGs, wargaming, miniatures painting, and hockey.