r/megafaunarewilding

This was recorded in the NorthWestern colombian Andes by the *AndeanBearInitiative* (ABI)

Credit: Sergey Gorshkov

An interesting factoid that I like to throw around sometimes is that camels, much like horses, originated in North America. Six million years ago, camels of the genus Procamelus crossed the Bering strait into Eurasia where they would later produce the genus Camelus, to which all one- and two-humped camels belong. Camels did not disappear from North America as soon as they'd left the continent, however, and by the time humans arrived, there were still North American camels, specifically the "Western" or "Yesterday's" camel Camelops hesternus.

Although originally thought to be a very large llama, Camelops had its DNA sequenced in 2016, which demonstrated that it was in fact a true camel, having split from the ancestors of the living camels about eleven million years ago. This ultimately makes a lot of sense because the extinct species was very similar the Old World camels, being of similar size (400-1000 kg) and, at least according to isotopic studies and other proxies, diet.

Camelops had a very wide distribution occurring from Alaska and the Yukon in the North to Guatemala in the South. The only places they seem notably absent are those areas where precipitation would have been very high, which makes sense given that they were, after all, camels. Their extremely wide temperature tolerance makes me skeptical of climatic explanations for their extinction (as I am for most climate-driven extinction scenarios where megafauna are concerned), and it is notable that this is a species we know to have been hunted by people.

Given how recent the extinction of this species occurred (the date doesn't even register on the timescale below, on which it is accurately plotted), it is relevant to wonder how the extinction of this species would have affected North American ecosystems. Camels preferentially browse succulent and thorny plants over grasses, unlike cattle and horses. Domestic camels imported to the southwestern US in the 1800s were reported to browse on saltbush, pricklypear, mesquite, and creosote, all plants that can easily crowd out rangelands in the south today, reducing biodiversity and creating a fire hazard.

Note for Plot - blue lines represent points where lineages left North America

An interesting article from conservation giants

Article Link

For some reason, this came to my mind and I decided to post it here. Maybe if none of the currently living species can live here, I'll post it on r/SpeculativeEvolution.