Camel Unearthed From High Arctic

In March 2013, a remarkable discovery was made when a research team led by the Canadian Museum of Nature identified an extinct camel in Canada's High Arctic. Dr. Natalia Rybczynski, palaeobiologist, Canadian Museum of Nature, and her colleagues discovered evidence from parts of 30 fossil fragments of a leg bone on Ellesmere Island, Nunavut. "This is an important discovery because it provides the first evidence of camels living in the High Arctic region," explains Rybczynski, a vertebrate paleontologist with the Canadian Museum of Nature, who has led numerous field expeditions in Canada's Arctic. "It extends the previous range of camels in North America northward by about 1,200 km, and suggests that the lineage that gave rise to modern camels may been originally adapted to living in an Arctic forest environment."We have learned in this SuperGraphic story that camel fossils were found in Yukon, but this recent find was made more than 745 miles away from where Paracamelus and Camelops hesternus fossils were uncovered, and proves to be the most northern discovery of camel. Dr. Zazula described the discovery as absolutely spectacular and explained that the small pieces of bone discovered proved to be nearly identical to that of Paracamelus. Dr. Rybczynski explained that trying to determine that the bones were from a camel was a true challenge, but confirmation came from a unique new process called "collagen fingerprinting" pioneered by Dr. Mike Buckley at the University of Manchester in England. Since the fossil fragments found were so well preserved, the collagen fingerprinting technique was able to show that the collagen, which is the primary protein in bone, was most similar to that of modern-day camels. "We now have a new fossil record to better understand camel evolution, since our research shows that the Paracamelus lineage inhabitated northern North America for millions of years, and the simplest explanation for this pattern would be that Paracamelus originated there," explains Rybczynski. "So perhaps some specializations seen in modern camels, such as their wide flat feet, large eyes and humps for fat may be adaptations derived from living in a polar environment."To learn more about this remarkable discovery, collagen fingerprinting and the significance to the scientific community please click on the links below