The Camel - African, Arabian or Amercian?

Think of a camel and you are likely to envisage epic desert scenes from "Lawrence of Arabia". The so called "ships of the desert" are now regarded as symbols of Arabian and North African desert life. But some 20 Million years ago you would have found them grazing in North America rather than the far east.

Just like horses and dogs, Camels in fact evolved in the North American grasslands and they reached Asia via the former Bering land bridge, now the Bering Straits which separate Alaska from Asia. That migration didn't occur until some 4 million years ago when the Camel had an appearance more akin to that of a gazelle like giraffe.

The native North American species of Camel died out during the last Ice age leaving the Asian offshoot of the species to evolve in to the durable, impressive burden carrying beasts we know today. Exactly why the North American Camel died out is a matter of some speculation.

Climate change is the obvious suspect for the demise of the American camel and many scientists believe it would have been due to the sharp increase in grass silica levels which occured as the North American continent cooled. The reasoning behind this theory suggests that the sharply increased silica levels made the grass much harder to chew, so much so that the teeth of animals dependent upon it were unable to cope with the increased demands it placed upon them.

However some evidence also exists that suggests the last remaining American camels were in fact finished off by human hunters as recently as just 10,000 years ago. With their escape route across the Bering land bridge now engulfed by water, they had nowhere to run.

It makes for a bizarre image to think of Camels grazing in Alaska. But if it weren't for the former bridge between the two great continents of America and Asia, the camels we see today would almost certainly not exist.

One wonders what mode of transport would then have evolved instead to carry nomadic people and their goods across the inhospitable deserts of Asia and Africa?