Almost certainly a one-humped camel. There are two species of camels, the dromedary (one-humped) and the bactrian (two-humped). The bactrian is native to the Central Asian steppes, and by far the rarer of the two. The Arabian camel (dromedary) is far more common, and native to South Asia and the Arabian peninsula.
The dromedary was domesticated around 4,000BC in the Arabian peninsula, and gained popularity in the Near East around the 9th century BC. The bactrian, although used in caravans on the silk road, never really spread outside the steppes of Central Asia. Therefore, it would be much more likely that Jesus was referring to the one-humped camel, which promises some respite to the rich, since the Arabian is significantly smaller than it's Central Asian counterpart.
Whether Jesus would even know about the bactrian camel I can't say, someone more familiar with the history of the Silk Road can probably answer that.
It is questionable if he meant either. There is a debate going on among scholars whether it really said "camel" or rather "rope" - both words (κάμηλος/kámêlos for camel and κάμιλος/kamilos for rope) are very close to each other and might have been mistranslated. There are some early bible translations in other languages (such as Aramaic) which adhere to the translation as "rope passing through the eye of a needle" (which, frankly, to me makes more sense) and it has been brought forward as early as the 6the century in Orthodox christian theology.
On the other hand, there is a school of scholars who gives kamilos as the original and have interpreted it as a camel having problems passing small gates when laden with goods, such enhancing the metaphor about the rich man not going to heaven unless he loses his worldly goods, just as the camel has to lose its goods to pass the gate.
But this is just a pointer, maybe some of our experts for early Christianity can help out and expand on the controversy? /u/captainhaddock /u/koine_lingua
Most likely a one-humped camel.
The one-humped camel, Camelus Dromedarius was likely domesticated in Arabia and was known through the middle east in the period.
The two-humped camel, Camelus Bactrianus has its origin further east, perhaps in northern Afghanistan. It was not unknown further west, indeed Aristotle appears to identify a two-humped camel. But its standard range of usage suggests it is less likely to be the kind of camel known in 1st century Palestine.
The Talmud records an illustration of similar type, but using an Elephant rather than a camel. It's in the Talmudic material from Babylon, where elephants were more widely known and stereotyped as a large land-animal.
Wait, this is a serious question? I'm confused, can someone explain this to me please?
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