Episode 250 – Camels

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This family includes some of the strangest and most impressive mammals in the world, from the Andean highlands to the Sahara desert. This episode, we explore the incredible adaptations and deep history of Camels.

In the news
Insights into ancient diets from fossil stomach stones
An early aquatic archosaur with preserved organs
Competitive exclusion and the lack of tiny dinosaurs
The role of poop in the Cambrian Explosion

Camels!

The family Camelidae includes seven modern species of artiodactyl mammals. In the Old World are the domesticated dromedaries and both wild and domesticated Bactrian camels of Africa, Asia, and the Middle East. In the New World are South America’s guanacoes and vicuñas, and their domesticated relatives, llamas and alpacas.

Like many of their fellow artiodactyls, camelids are long-legged and long-necked herbivores. Unlike other artiodactyls, camelids walk on splayed toes covered with nails instead of hooves. Modern camelids also tend to live in difficult environments, varying from high altitude steppes to hot deserts, and they are excellent at conserving water and making the most out of tough and low-nutrient plants.

Camelid skulls are quite distinctive, sporting numerous pairs of canines and canine-like teeth which they use to fend off rivals and threats. These animals also famously spit when disturbed, although they aren’t spitting saliva, but instead regurgitated stomach contents. Camels ruminate (regurgitate and chew their cud), although they evolved this habit independently of other artiodactyls.

Most of the evolutionary history of Camelidae took place in North America. The earliest camelids, from the Eocene and Oligocene between ~46-30 million years ago, are fairly llama-shaped, sheep-sized (or smaller) hooved herbivores. From the Oligocene into the Miocene, the family expanded into a variety of successful subgroups, most of which seem to have been generalists feeding on forest and grassland plants.

Later in the Miocene, those early species gave rise to the first true members of our modern Old World (Camelini) and New World (Lamini) clades, including the largest camels of all time, some of which could reach three meters (10 feet) at the shoulder. By this time, many of the familiar features of camels had already evolved, including their many canine-shaped teeth and they splayed toes.

Near the end of the Miocene, around 7 million years ago, some camels traveled across Beringia into Asia and Europe, giving rise to the Old World camels of the Ice Age and today. Not long afterward, around 3 million years ago, the Great American Biotic Interchange sees camels move into South America to give rise to our familiar New World species.

By the end of the Pleistocene, around 10,000 years ago, nearly all of the world’s camels had gone extinct. Of the remaining species, llamas and alpacas were domesticated by humans around 5,000-6,000 years ago, Bactrian camels by around 5,000 years ago, and dromedaries by around 3,000 years ago. To this day, these species are important pack animals and sources of meat, milk, and wool in many parts of the world.

Learn More

Meet the Extinct Camels of North America
Veterinarian Key – Camelidae

Camelid genomes reveal evolution and adaptation to desert environments (technical, open access)
High Arctic giant camels (technical, open access)

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If you enjoyed this topic and want more like it, check out these related episodes:

• Episode 27 – Domestication
• Episode 76 – Horse Evolution
• Episode 129 – Rhinos
• Episode 159 – Giraffes

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