A few years ago, the kharai didn’t exist—in the official sense. The maldharis of Kachchh (or Kutch), a vast sun-bleached district of Gujarat in the farthest westerly reaches of India, always recognized that the kharai was distinct from the region’s other camel, the Kachchhi (or Kutchi), but administratively, the camels were all Kachchhi. Sahjeevan, a local NGO focused on conserving biodiversity and supporting the livelihoods of pastoralist communities, was working on a camel conservation program around 2011 when staff learned about the kharai from herders.