Ancient Camels in Canada's High Arctic

Wow, hard to believe that winter does not want to depart. Ten to 15 cm of snow was predicated for overnight and today. We don't have that much yet, and it is just snowing periodically. I'm hoping the forecast is wrong, and snow on the ground will disappear. I'm sure ready for spring.

Now a little Northern news about something I read recently. The news about ancient camel bones found on Ellesmere Island is not new, but most interesting. Paleobiologist, Natalia Rybezynski, from the Canadian Museum of Nature, first uncovered bone fragments in 2006 in a fossil bed at the Beaver Pond site. In return trips with other scientists in 2008 and 2010, they concluded the bone fragments came from a giant camel's limb. Analysis of collagen fingerprinting showed that the Ellesmere camel was identical to an ancient camel unearthed years ago in the Yukon. They also discovered that these were from the same line of camels that walked to Asia over the Bering Land seven million years ago. What also emerged is that these giant camels were about 30 per cent larger than today's camels.

Well, this got me thinking. What goes around - comes around! Of course, a billion years from now I won't be around to see what happens.

In the meantime, I'm waiting impatiently for spring.