The Camel - Middle Eastern or American?
Think of a camel and you're likely to envision epic desert scenes from movies such as Lawrence of Arabia. The so-called ships of the desert are now viewed as symbols of Arabian and North African desert existence. But around 20 million years ago, you would have seen them roaming around North America instead of the Far East.
Just like horses and dogs, camels in datum advanced in the North American plains and they extended to Asia through the last Bering land bridge, now the Bering Straits, which separates Alaska from Asia. That relocation didn't happen until some 4 million years ago, when the camel had an entrance more akin to that of a gazelle like giraffe.
The inherent North American type of camel died out thru the last Ice age letting the Asian offshoot of the species to progress into the tough, imposing burden transporting creatures we know today. Precisely why the North American camel perished is a matter of some conjecture.
Climate alteration is the clear suspect for the death of the American camel and numerous scientists believe it would have happened due to the sharp upsurge in grass silica levels which arose as the North American landmass cooled. The rationale behind this notion proposes that the sharply amplified silica levels made the grass much tougher to chew, so much so that the teeth of animals reliant upon it were powerless to cope with the augmented demands it placed upon them.
Though some indication also exists that proposes the last residual American camels were in fact finished off by hunters as lately as just 10,000 years ago. With their escape route thru the Bering land bridge now overwhelmed by water, they didn't have anywhere to run.
It makes for an inexplicable image to think of camels grazing in Alaska. But if it were not for the previous bridge connecting the two great regions of America and Asia, the camels we see today would almost positively not exist anymore.
One marvels what mode of transference would then have developed instead to carry traveling people and their goods thru the unwelcoming deserts of Asia and Africa.
Just like horses and dogs, camels in datum advanced in the North American plains and they extended to Asia through the last Bering land bridge, now the Bering Straits, which separates Alaska from Asia. That relocation didn't happen until some 4 million years ago, when the camel had an entrance more akin to that of a gazelle like giraffe.
The inherent North American type of camel died out thru the last Ice age letting the Asian offshoot of the species to progress into the tough, imposing burden transporting creatures we know today. Precisely why the North American camel perished is a matter of some conjecture.
Climate alteration is the clear suspect for the death of the American camel and numerous scientists believe it would have happened due to the sharp upsurge in grass silica levels which arose as the North American landmass cooled. The rationale behind this notion proposes that the sharply amplified silica levels made the grass much tougher to chew, so much so that the teeth of animals reliant upon it were powerless to cope with the augmented demands it placed upon them.
Though some indication also exists that proposes the last residual American camels were in fact finished off by hunters as lately as just 10,000 years ago. With their escape route thru the Bering land bridge now overwhelmed by water, they didn't have anywhere to run.
It makes for an inexplicable image to think of camels grazing in Alaska. But if it were not for the previous bridge connecting the two great regions of America and Asia, the camels we see today would almost positively not exist anymore.
One marvels what mode of transference would then have developed instead to carry traveling people and their goods thru the unwelcoming deserts of Asia and Africa.
