Palaeontology

Extinct giant camels once roamed the Arctic

By T.K. Randall
March 6, 2013 ·  10 comments

Image Credit: sxc.hu The ancestors of today's camels, the animals would have stood up to a third taller than their modern counterparts and are believed to have roamed the forests of the High Arctic over three million years ago. Temperatures were thought to have been warmer than they are today and in winter the region would have been plunged in to darkness for more than six months at a time.

"This is the first evidence of camels in the High Arctic," said researcher Mike Buckley. "This ancestor of modern camels may already have had some of the adaptations that helped it survive in harsh climates - the hump for fat storage for instance."


Source: Guardian Unlimited | Comments (10)

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