Editing Camel (section)

===Evolution===
The earliest known camel, called ''[[Protylopus]]'', lived in North America 40 to 50 million years ago (during the [[Eocene]]).<ref name=mukasa81 /> It was about the size of a rabbit and lived in the open woodlands of what is now [[South Dakota]].<ref name=harington97>{{cite web|last=Harington |first=C. R. |title=Ice Age Yukon and Alaskan Camels |work=Yukon Beringia Interpretive Centre |access-date=3 December 2012 |date=June 1997 |url=http://www.beringia.com/research/camels.html |publisher=Government of Yukon, Department of Tourism and Culture, Museums Unit |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130126013451/http://www.beringia.com/research/camels.html |archive-date=26 January 2013 }}</ref><ref name=bernstein09>{{cite book | publisher = Grove Press | isbn = 9780802144164 | last = Bernstein | first = William J. | title = A Splendid Exchange: How Trade Shaped the World | date = 6 May 2009 |pages=54–55 }}</ref> By 35 million years ago, the ''[[Poebrotherium]]'' was the size of a goat and had many more traits similar to camels and llamas.<ref name=northdakota>{{cite web |website=North Dakota Industrial Commission Department of Mineral Resources |title=''Poebrotherium'' |url=https://www.dmr.nd.gov/ndfossil/poster/PDF/Poebrotherium.pdf |access-date=3 December 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120725092634/https://www.dmr.nd.gov/ndfossil/Poster/PDF/Poebrotherium.pdf |archive-date=25 July 2012}}</ref><ref name=scibuzz04>{{cite web | publisher = Science Museum of Minnesota | title = Fossil camel skull (Poebrotherium sp.) | work = Science Buzz | access-date = 3 December 2012 | date = January 2004 | url = http://www.sciencebuzz.org/museum/object/2004_01_fossil_camel_skull_poebrotherium | url-status = live | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20121014130040/http://www.sciencebuzz.org/museum/object/2004_01_fossil_camel_skull_poebrotherium | archive-date = 14 October 2012 }}</ref> The hoofed ''[[Stenomylus]]'', which walked on the tips of its toes, also existed around this time, and the long-necked ''[[Aepycamelus]]'' evolved in the [[Miocene]].<ref name=kindersley08>{{cite encyclopedia | publisher = Penguin | isbn = 9780756682415 | last = Kindersley | first = Dorling | encyclopedia = Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs and Prehistoric Life |title=Camels |pages=266–7 | date = 2 June 2008 }}</ref> The split between the tribes [[Camelini]], which contains modern camels and [[Lamini]], modern [[llama]]s, [[alpaca]]s, [[vicuña]]s, and [[guanaco]]s, is estimated to have occurred over 16 million years ago.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Lynch |first1=Sinéad |last2=Sánchez-Villagra |first2=Marcelo R. |last3=Balcarcel |first3=Ana |date=December 2020 |title=Description of a fossil camelid from the Pleistocene of Argentina, and a cladistic analysis of the Camelinae |journal=[[Swiss Journal of Palaeontology]] |language=en |volume=139 |issue=1 |page=5 |doi=10.1186/s13358-020-00208-6 |issn=1664-2376 |pmc=7590954 |pmid=33133011 |bibcode=2020SwJP..139....8L |doi-access=free }}</ref>

The ancestor of modern camels, ''[[Paracamelus]]'', migrated into Eurasia from North America via [[Beringia]] during the late Miocene, between 7.5 and 6.5 million years ago.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Heintzman|first1=Peter D.|last2=Zazula|first2=Grant D.|last3=Cahill|first3=James A.|last4=Reyes|first4=Alberto V.|last5=MacPhee|first5=Ross D.E.|last6=Shapiro|first6=Beth|date=September 2015|title=Genomic Data from Extinct North American Camelops Revise Camel Evolutionary History|url=https://escholarship.org/content/qt4zm8b6kj/qt4zm8b6kj.pdf?t=nwxn49|journal=Molecular Biology and Evolution|language=en|volume=32|issue=9|pages=2433–2440|doi=10.1093/molbev/msv128|pmid=26037535|issn=0737-4038}}</ref><ref name="RybczynskiEtAl2013">{{Cite journal|last1=Rybczynski|first1=Natalia|last2=Gosse|first2=John C.|last3=Richard Harington|first3=C.|last4=Wogelius|first4=Roy A.|last5=Hidy|first5=Alan J.|last6=Buckley|first6=Mike|date=June 2013|title=Mid-Pliocene warm-period deposits in the High Arctic yield insight into camel evolution|journal=Nature Communications|language=en|volume=4|issue=1|pages=1550|doi=10.1038/ncomms2516|issn=2041-1723|pmc=3615376|pmid=23462993|bibcode=2013NatCo...4.1550R}}</ref><ref name="singh-tomar">{{cite book | edition = 8th revised | publisher = Rastogi Publications | isbn = 9788171336395 | author1 = Singh | author2 = Tomar | title = Evolutionary Biology | location = New Delhi |page=334}}</ref> During the Pleistocene, around 3 to 1 million years ago, the North American Camelidae spread to South America as part of the [[Great American Interchange]] via the newly formed [[Isthmus of Panama]], where they gave rise to [[guanacos]] and related animals.<ref name=mukasa81 /><ref name=harington97/><ref name=bernstein09/> Populations of ''Paracamelus'' continued to exist in the North American Arctic into the [[Early Pleistocene]].<ref name="RybczynskiEtAl2013"/><ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Buckley|first1=Michael|last2=Lawless|first2=Craig|last3=Rybczynski|first3=Natalia|date=March 2019|title=Collagen sequence analysis of fossil camels, Camelops and c.f. Paracamelus, from the Arctic and sub-Arctic of Plio-Pleistocene North America|url=https://pure.manchester.ac.uk/ws/files/85598334/BuckleyCamelopsPaper_AAM.pdf|journal=Journal of Proteomics|language=en|volume=194|pages=218–225|doi=10.1016/j.jprot.2018.11.014|pmid=30468917|s2cid=53713960}}</ref> This creature is estimated to have stood around {{convert|9|ft|m|abbr=off|spell=in}} tall. The Bactrian camel diverged from the dromedary about 1 million years ago, according to the fossil record.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Geraads|first1=Denis|last2=Didier|first2=Gilles|last3=Barr|first3=Andrew|last4=Reed|first4=Denne|last5=Laurin|first5=Michel|date=April 2020|title=The fossil record of camelids demonstrates a late divergence between Bactrian camel and dromedary=Acta Palaeontologica Polonica|journal=Acta Palaeontologica Polonica|language=en|volume=65|issue=2|pages=251–260|doi=10.4202/app.00727.2020|issn=0567-7920|eissn=1732-2421|doi-access=free}}</ref>

The last camel native to North America was ''[[Camelops hesternus]]'', which vanished along with [[horse]]s, [[Arctodus|short-faced bear]]s, [[mammoth]]s and [[mastodon]]s, [[ground sloth]]s, [[sabertooth cat]]s, and many other megafauna as part of the [[Quaternary extinction event]], coinciding with the migration of humans from Asia at the end of the Pleistocene, around 13–11,000 years ago.<ref name=worboys10>{{cite book | publisher = Earthscan | isbn = 9781844076048 | last1 = Worboys | first1 = Graeme L. | first2 = Wendy L.|last2= Francis|first3= Michael |last3=Lockwood | title = Connectivity Conservation Management: A Global Guide | date = 30 March 2010 |page=142}}</ref><ref name=macphee99>{{cite book | publisher = Springer | isbn = 9780306460920 | last1 = MacPhee | first1 = Ross D. E. | first2 = Hans-Dieter |last2=Sues | title = Extinctions in Near Time: Causes, Contexts, and Consequences | date = 30 June 1999 |pages=18, 20, 26}}</ref>

An extinct giant camel species, ''[[Camelus knoblochi]]'' roamed Asia during the Late Pleistocene, before becoming extinct around 20,000 years ago.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last1=Yuan |first1=Junxia |last2=Hu |first2=Jiaming |last3=Liu |first3=Wenhui |last4=Chen |first4=Shungang |last5=Zhang |first5=Fengli |last6=Wang |first6=Siren |last7=Zhang |first7=Zhen |last8=Wang |first8=Linying |last9=Xiao |first9=Bo |last10=Li |first10=Fuqiang |last11=Hofreiter |first11=Michael |last12=Lai |first12=Xulong |last13=Westbury |first13=Michael V. |last14=Sheng |first14=Guilian |date=May 2024 |title=Camelus knoblochi genome reveals the complex evolutionary history of Old World camels |url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0960982224005244 |journal=Current Biology |volume=34 |issue=11 |pages=2502–2508.e5 |language=en |doi=10.1016/j.cub.2024.04.050|pmid=38754423 |bibcode=2024CBio...34.2502Y |url-access=subscription }}</ref>

<gallery mode="packed" heights="150">
File:Stenomylus.jpg|alt=A drawing of two early camels|[[Stenomylus]] illustration
File:NMNH-USNMV16601Stenomylus.tif|[[Stenomylus]] skeleton
File:NMNH-USNMV15917Poebrotherium.jpg|[[Poebrotherium]] skeleton
File:NMNH-USNM244271 2.jpg|[[Procamelus]] skull
File:Camelops hesternus.jpg|alt=|''[[Camelops hesternus]]'', the last true camel native to North America
</gallery>