There Used To Be Freaking Camels In The Arctic
High Arctic Camel Julius Csotonyi © Julius CsotonyiIn the northernmost reaches of Canada, within the Arctic Circle, scientists have found fossils of...camels. Wait, what? North America was a crazy place a few million years ago. The megafauna alone would make the world's most awesome zoo collection: giant sloths! Mastodons! Nine-foot saber-toothed salmon! Dire wolves! And, believe it or not, camels. Yes, camels originally arose in North America 45 million years ago and lived there until human migrated into the area around 16,000 years ago. So, we might expect to find camels somewhere in North America, sure. But researchers just found fossils on Ellesmere Island, in the northern territory of Nunavut, Canada, far above the Arctic Circle. Nobody knew that camels could live so far north, and now researchers have begun to wonder: was the camel's hump -- which is basically a judicious redistribution of fat -- an adaptation to deal with...