Aepycamelus

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Aepycamelus
Fossil range: Miocene

A twentieth-century artist's rendering of an Aepycamelus

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 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 is presumed to have moved about singly or in small groups, like today's giraffes, and like them, browsed high up in the trees. In this respect it had no competitors, it survived a relatively long time, lasting throughout the entirety of the Miocene epoch, and died out prior to the start of the Pliocene, possibly due to climatic changes.