Giant Camel Fossils Found in Canadian Arctic

[Iron Woode]

http://news.nationalpost.com/2013/03/05/giant-ancient-camel-remains-discovered-in-canadian-arctic/

When Natalia Rybczynski unearthed the first few bone fragments on a windswept ridge in Canada’s High Arctic, she knew she was onto something big.

Rybczynski, a paleobiologist at the Canadian Museum of Nature, recalls thinking: “This is something kind of off the charts.”

It turns out she had uncovered the remains of the first camel ever found in the High Arctic.

The remarkable discovery, announced Tuesday, shows the humped creatures lived in forests that extended as far north as Ellesmere Island 3.5 million years ago during a global warm spell that the scientists say holds important lessons for the modern world.

“The camel is an ambassador for climate change,” says John Gosse, an earth scientist at Dalhousie University and co-author of the report on the camel published Tuesday in the journal Nature Communications.

Cool! Giant Canadian Wooly Camels.

This is a fascinating story.

:awe:

 

[zinfamous]

http://news.nationalpost.com/2013/03/05/giant-ancient-camel-remains-discovered-in-canadian-arctic/


Cool! Giant Canadian Wooly Camels.

This is a fascinating story.

:awe:

I miss the 70s and their wooly camels.

 

[Jaskalas]

Okay... this is wild and crazy. At first glance I'm thinking 65+ million years ago, you know with Pangaea and all the continents moved around where this sort of thing is readily explained by possibly being FAR removed from the north pole.

Then I read this:

The remarkable discovery, announced Tuesday, shows the humped creatures lived in forests that extended as far north as Ellesmere Island 3.5 million years ago during a global warm spell that the scientists say holds important lessons for the modern world.

Climate Change indeed. What did a 3.5 million year old SUV look like to cause this?

Ellesmere Island:

 

[BoberFett]

Climate Change indeed. What did a 3.5 million year old SUV look like to cause this?

 

[Jaskalas]

Reading the article, found this bit:

Slight changes in Earth’s orbit are believed to have triggered a global temperature rise of 2 to 3 degrees about 3.5 million years ago. Due to poorly understood feedback mechanisms in the climate system the warming was greatly amplified in the Arctic with temperatures on Ellesmere rising 14 to 22 C, allowing the forests — and camels — to move north.

The Arctic warmed 14-22C during that time period, apparently via the Earth's orbit and feedback effects alone. Pretty neat bit of history.

 

[Baked]

That's one hairy camel toe.

 

[zanejohnson]

absolutely fascinating!

 

[sao123]

Reading the article, found this bit:



The Arctic warmed 14-22C during that time period, apparently via the Earth's orbit and feedback effects alone. Pretty neat bit of history.

Look at that... a natural cause for global warming...which has happened in the past...

because it has to have been man-made amirite?