Camels' Humps Originated in the Arctic

The Telegraph ^ | 05 Mar 2013

[nickcarraway]

Camels get their humps from giant ancestors which roamed the Arctic rather than the desert and stored fat on their back to help them survive polar conditions, researchers claim.

New fragments of leg bone discovered in the far north of Canada suggest that modern camels are descended from ancestors which lived within the Arctic Circle.

Thirty fossilised pieces of a lower leg bone belonging to a camel which lived 3.5 million years ago were found by researchers on Ellesmere Island, in Canada's High Arctic. The giant mammals would likely have measured up to 3.5m (11ft) in height and had one hump in which they stored fat to help them survive in the Arctic, at a time when the region was less cold than today and covered with forest, researchers said.

The evolutionary adaptation today allows camels to thrive in deserts because storing all their fat on their back helps them keep cool in extreme temperatures.

[Jeff Chandler]

[stormer]

For the most part, the Arctic is a desert...

[Ackackadack]

Let a creationist suggest this, and there would be no end of ridicule. But let a leftist-approved scientist say the same thing, and the reaction is "hmmm...really...you don't say...interesting".

Having worked there for a couple years, yes, the Arctic most certainly is a desert.

[Vanders9]

Isn’t the definition of a desert a region that doesn’t get a certain amount of rainfall in a year? Parts of the Arctic haven’t seen rain for decades.

[martin_fierro]

My humps

My humps

My camel bumps

[count-your-change]

“The giant mammals would likely have measured up to 3.5m (11ft) in height and had one hump in which they stored fat to help them survive in the Arctic, at a time when the region was less cold than today and covered with forest, researchers said.”

“...less cold”?? Who writes this stuff? Why not just say warmer? Poor George Orwell would protest.

[stormer]

Let a creationist suggest what, exactly? The problem with creationists isn’t that they “suggest” anything; the problem is that they ignore all the evidence of evolutionary mechanisms and insist that the only explanation is a supernatural one.

[stormer]

The definition of desert can be a bit vague. It isn't a question of rainfall so much as it is that overall precipitation (regardless of form) accounts for a moisture deficit, i.e. where evapotranspiration exceeds precipitation, and the conditions have been in place to the extent that vegetation has either adapted to those conditions or are nonexistent. Side note, I happened to be at a research facility in the Namib Desert when it rained for the first time in 9 years - you should have seen the looks on the faces of some of the people...

[camle]

if it wasn’t cold, then why the need for extra fat? adn if there WAS a need for extra fat, why put it all in one place, rather than all around? hmm???

[SunkenCiv]

GGG managers are SunkenCiv, StayAt HomeMother & Ernest_at_the_Beach	join list or digest view topics view or post blog bookmark post a topic subscribe
Thanks nickcarraway. Ancient Arctic camel a curious conundrum Just adding to the catalog, not sending a general distribution. To all -- please ping me to other topics which are appropriate for the GGG list.