SynapsidaCamelidae

Camelops hesternus

Western camel

Camelops hesternus skeletal reconstruction, left lateral view, length ~4 m.
Scale bar = 1 meter
Taxon
Camelops hesternus Leidy, 1873
Reconstructed length
~4 m (13 feet)
View
Left lateral
Drawing
© Scott Hartman
Drawn
2010, revised 2026
Clade
  1. Synapsida
  2. Therapsida
  3. Mammalia
  4. Placentalia
  5. Laurasiatheria
  6. Artiodactyla
  7. Camelidae

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A large camel from the Pleistocene of North America — the continent where camels first evolved. Camelops stood taller than a modern dromedary, and died out at the end of the last Ice Age, presumably due to a combination of hunting and habitat alteration by newly relocated human populations.

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