According to one study, giant 10-foot-tall Mongolian camels were killed and eaten by archaic humans before becoming extinct 27,000 years ago.
Scientists have examined fossils of the extinct species (Camelus knoblochi) from the Tsagaan Agui Cave in the Gobi-Altai Mountains in southwestern Mongolia.
One of the bones shows signs of both human dissection, likely extracting protein-rich bone marrow, and “hyenas gnawing on it.”
While the main cause of the extinction of C. knoblochi appears to be climate change, hunting by archaic humans may also have played a role.
These archaic humans would not only have been Homo sapiens, but also Neanderthals and Denisovans.
At nearly 10 feet tall and weighing more than a ton (2,200 pounds), Camelus knoblochi would have eclipsed Camelus ferus, a modern camel species.
At nearly 10 feet tall and weighing more than a ton (2,200 pounds), Camelus knoblochi would have eclipsed Camelus ferus, a modern camel species
Shown are bones of the extinct Mongolian giant camel (Camelus knoblochi) from Central Asia
A bone fragment (proximal metacarpal) once belonging to Camelus knoblochi, found in Tsagaan-Agui Cave, Mongolia
THE EXTINCT GIANT MONGOL CAMEL
The giant Mongolian camel (Camelus knoblochi) is an extinct species of camel from the Pleistocene (about 2.6 million years ago to 11,700 years ago).
It was possibly twice the size of camels in existence today.
Humans could have contributed to its demise about 27,000 years ago by hunting.
In Mongolia, the last species coexisted with anatomically modern humans and perhaps the extinct Neanderthals or Denisovans.
Neanderthals were a close human ancestor who lived in Europe and western Asia around 400,000 to 40,000 years ago.
Less is known about the Denisovans, another population of early humans who lived in Asia at least 80,000 years ago and were distantly related to the Neanderthals.
“Here we show that the extinct camel, Camelus knoblochi, existed in Mongolia until climate and environmental changes drove it to extinction around 27,000 years ago,” said study author Dr. John W. Olsen of the University of Arizona School of Anthropology.
‘c The fossil remains of knoblochi from Tsagaan-Agui Cave, which also contains a rich, layered sequence of human Palaeolithic cultural material, suggest that Archaic humans coexisted and interacted with C. knoblochi there.
The new study describes five leg and foot bones of C. knoblochi found in Tsagaan-Agui Cave in 2021 and one from Tugrug Shireet in what is now the Gobi Desert of southern Mongolia.
They were found along with bones of wolves, cave hyenas, rhinos, horses, wild donkeys, ibex, wild sheep and Mongolian gazelles.
Today, southwestern Mongolia is home to Camelus ferus (pictured), one of the last two wild populations of the endangered wild Bactrian camel
“A metacarpal of C. knoblochi from Tsagaan-Agui Cave, dated to between 59,000 and 44,000 years ago, shows evidence of both human slaughter and hyena gnawing,” said study author Dr. Arina M. Khatsenovich from the Institute of Archeology and Ethnography of the Russian Academy of Sciences in Novosibirsk, Russia.
“This suggests that C. knoblochi was a species that late Pleistocene humans could hunt or eat in Mongolia.
“We do not yet have sufficient physical evidence for the late Pleistocene interaction between humans and C. ferus, but it was probably no different from human relationships with C. knoblochi – as prey but not as a target for domestication.”
The map shows the most important finds of fossilized camels in eastern Eurasia. The giant Mongolian camel (Camelus knoblochi) is marked with red circles. The extant Camelus ferus is marked with black squares
Neanderthals and Denisovans
Neanderthals were very early (archaic) humans who lived in Europe and western Asia from around 400,000 years ago until their extinction around 40,000 years ago.
Denisovans are another population of early humans who lived in Asia and were distantly related to Neanderthals.
Much less is known about the Denisova people because scientists have discovered fewer fossils of these ancient people.
The exact way modern humans, Neanderthals, and Denisovans are related to each other is still being studied.
However, research has shown that for a period of time modern humans overlapped with Neanderthal and Denisovan populations and that they had children in common (interbred).
As a result, many people alive today have a small amount of genetic material from these distant ancestors.
Source: National Institutes of Health
The collection indicates that C. knoblochi lived in mountainous and lowland steppes—less arid habitats than those of its modern relatives, such as the endangered wild Bactrian camel (Camelus ferus).
The authors conclude that C. knoblochi became extinct primarily because it was less tolerant of desertification than C. ferus, as well as the native Bactrian camel (Camelus bactrianus) and the native Arabian camel (Camelus dromedarius).
In the late Pleistocene, much of Mongolia’s environment became drier, changing from steppe to arid steppe and finally desert.
“Apparently, C. knoblochi was poorly adapted to desert biomes, largely because such landscapes could not support such large animals,” the authors say in their study, published in the journal Frontiers in Earth Science.
“But perhaps there were also other reasons related to the availability of fresh water and the ability of camels to store water in their bodies, ill-adapted mechanisms of thermoregulation, and competition from other members of the faunal community occupying the same trophic niche. ‘
Towards the end of C. knoblochi’s existence, the latter species may have resided in the milder forest-steppe—grasslands interspersed with forests—further north in neighboring Siberia.
But that habitat probably wasn’t ideal either, so it could have rung the death knell for C. knoblochi.
C. knoblochi is known to have lived in Central Asia for approximately a quarter of a million years. The camel’s last refuge was in Mongolia until about 27,000 years ago.
Denisovans are a group of extinct hominins that split off from the Neanderthals about 400,000 years ago. Shown is a reconstruction of a juvenile Denisova female who lived 82,000 to 74,000 years ago
Neanderthals died out around 40,000 years ago, but have a reputation for being bulky, brutal creatures that were tough and fearless
Today, southwestern Mongolia is home to C. ferus, one of the last two wild populations of the endangered wild Bactrian camel.
The new results suggest that C. knoblochi coexisted with C. ferus during the Late Pleistocene in Mongolia.
Competition between the two species 27,000 years ago may have been a third cause of C. knoblochi’s extinction.
LIFE-SIZE CAMEL CARVINGS IN SAUDI ARABIA, ORIGINALLY THOUGHT TO BE 2,000 YEARS OLD, ACTUALLY DATE 8,000 YEARS BACK – TO BE ALMOST TWICE THE AGE OF STONEHENGE, NEW ANALYZES INDICATE
Life-size camel sculptures in Saudi Arabia, originally thought to be 2,000 years old, are actually 8,000 years old, new analysis has found.
The discovery makes it almost twice as old as Britain’s Stonehenge, where around 2500 BC. BC stones were drawn into their unique circle.
The 21 camel, horse and other equine figures found covered in stone in the Saudi desert in 2018 had previously been estimated to be around 2,000 years old and made after the end of the Iron Age.
Because they have similarities to works of art in the ancient Jordanian city of Petra, which was half-carved into the rock about two millennia ago.
However, most modern dating methods found that the estimate was wrong by 6,000 years, with the sculptures likely dating to around 6,000 BC. .
Read more: Life-size camel carvings in Saudi Arabia date back 8,000 years