Giant Camel Fossil found in Arctic

 

Today scientists revealed that they had unearthed the fossilised remains of a giant species of camel and they found it, not in the desert but the Canada's High Arctic. Dating of the fossilised remains show that the animal lived around 3.5 million years ago and is an ancestor of the camels that live around today.

 

Dr Mike Buckley an author of the paper talks about the mid-Pliocene Epoch was a warm period but

the fact that fossilised remains was at such high latitude was astonishing. The researchers believe that the camel would have a much shaggier coat to keep warm, its large eyes helping to see in low dark and flat feet good for walking on the snow. The camels hump also would be good to store reserves needed for an Arctic winter.

 

The size of the fossil suggested that the animal was about 30% larger that today's camels, measuring about 2.7m in height.