Aepycamelus

Taxobox
fossil_range = Miocene
name = "Aepycamelus"

---

image_width = 250px
image_caption = A twentieth-century artist's rendering of an Aepycamelus
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Chordata
classis = Mammalia
ordo = Artiodactyla
familia = Camelidae
tribus = Camelini
genus = †"Aepycamelus"
genus_authority = MacDonald, 1956
subdivision_ranks = Species
subdivision = †"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 polytonic|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.

References

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