Aepycamelus

Aepycamelus Temporal range: early to late Miocene
A twentieth-century artist's rendering of an Aepycamelus
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Artiodactyla
Family:	Camelidae
Tribe:	Camelini
Genus:	†Aepycamelus MacDonald, 1956
Species
†Aepycamelus alexandrae †Aepycamelus bradyi †Aepycamelus elrodi †Aepycamelus giraffinus †Aepycamelus latus †Aepycamelus major †Aepycamelus priscus †Aepycamelus proceras †Aepycamelus robustus †Aepycamelus stocki

Aepycamelus is an extinct species of camelid, formerly called Alticamelus in scientific literature. Its name is derived from the Homeric Greek αἰπύς, "high and steep" and κάμελος - "camel"; thus, "high camel"; alticamelus in Latin.

Aepycamelus lived during the Miocene period (14-5 MYA) on the prairies of North America (Colorado, etc). It was a rather grotesque but highly specialized animal. Its head was relatively small compared with the rest of its body its neck was long, as a result of lengthening of the cervical vertebrae and its legs were long and stilt-like, with the elbow and knee joints on the same level.

Aepycamelus walked on its toes only. They were transformed to cushioned plate like those of Recent camels.

Its strange body structure gives us plenty of information on its mode of life and habits. Aepycamelus obviously inhabited dry grasslands with groups of trees. It moved about singly or in small groups, like today's giraffes, and like them browsed upon the high foliage. Since in this respect it had no competittors, it survived a relatively long time. As a highly specialized genus it died out without leaving any descendants, however.

References

Benes, Josef. Prehistoric Animals and Plants. Pg. 248. Prague: Artua, 1979.