The giant Arabian camel and its smaller relation, the llama, have been cross-bred by scientists in United Arab Emirates (UAE).
A fully-grown male camel and an adult female llama were cross-bred in the world's first artificial insemination involving the two animals, said Dr Lulu Skidmore, who carried out the operation.
The "cama" was born last week at the Dubai government veterinary centre and another one is expected to be delivered in a few weeks.
"The baby cama is six days old now and is in a good health and is well looked-after," Dr Skidmore said.
The llama belongs to the camel species but is much smaller and has no humps.
Dr Skidmore said that more than 40 million years ago there was a single species in Arabia but for geographical, geological and climatic reasons, some migrated north and settled in south America, evolving into what is known as the llama.
"The other roamed Arabia and developed into what we call now the camel," she said.
Dr Skidmore, a British specialist in camel reproduction, carried out the cross-breeding after long tests at her laboratory in Dubai. The operations were financed by Dubai's crown prince and UAE defence minister, Sheikh Mohammed ibn Rashid Al-Maktum, one of the world's biggest investors in horse-racing and owner of hundreds of camels.
Dubai gets llamas for its zoo from Bolivia and other south American countries. It has the second biggest zoo in the Gulf after the UAE oasis town of Al-Ain, where expensive breeding programmes for rare species are funded by UAE President Sheikh Zayed ibn Sultan Al-Nahayan.