10 July 2025 The Future is the Product of the Past

Climate and Archaic humans caused the extinction of giant camels that lived in Mongolia 27,000 years ago, a study says

Camelus knoblochi, a species of giant two-humped camel, survived in Mongolia alongside modern humans—and perhaps Neanderthals and Denisovans—until about 27,000 years ago.

Camelus knoblochi, is known to have lived for approximately a quarter of a million years in Central Asia. C. knoblochi’s last refuge was in Mongolia until approximately 27,000 years ago.

Giant 10ft-tall Mongolian camels were killed and eaten by archaic humans before going extinct 27,000 years ago, a study shows.

A new study in Frontiers in Earth Science believes that humans hunting the 2,200-pound camel significantly contributed to their extinction aside from the widely accepted climate change as its cause of demise.

Scientists have studied fossilized remains of the giant camel that have been found in Tsagaan Agui Cave in the Gobi Altai Mountains alongside artifacts left behind by Paleolithic people.

One metacarpal bone, dated to between 59,000 and 44,000 years ago, bears butchery marks and marks made by gnawing hyenas, said Arina M. Khatsenovich of the Russian Academy of Sciences./

Standing nearly 10 foot tall and weighing more than a metric ton (2,200 pounds), Camelus knoblochi would have dwarfed Camelus ferus, a modern-day camel species

One of the bones shows signs of both butchery by humans, likely to extract protein-rich marrow, and ‘hyenas gnawing on it’.

‘Here we show that the extinct camel, Camelus knoblochi persisted in Mongolia until climatic and environmental changes nudged it into extinction about 27,000 years ago,’ said study author Dr. John W Olsen at the School of Anthropology, University of Arizona.

‘C. knoblochi fossil remains from Tsagaan Agui Cave, which also contains a rich, stratified sequence of human Paleolithic cultural material, suggest that archaic people coexisted and interacted there with C. knoblochi. 

Paradoxically, today, southwestern Mongolia hosts one of the last two wild populations of the critically endangered wild Bactrian camel, C. ferus. The new results suggest that C. knoblochi coexisted with C. ferus during the late Pleistocene in Mongolia, so that between-species competition may have been a third cause of C. knoblochi’s extinction. Standing nearly three meters tall and weighing more than a ton, C. knoblochi would have dwarfed C. ferus. The precise taxonomic relationships between these two species, other extinct Camelus, and the ancient Paracamelus aren’t yet resolved.

Olsen said, “C. knoblochi fossil remains from Tsagaan Agui Cave [in the Gobi Altai Mountains of southwestern Mongolia], which also contains a rich, stratified sequence of human Paleolithic cultural material, suggest that archaic people coexisted and interacted there with C. knoblochi and elsewhere, contemporaneously, with the wild Bactrian camel.”

Pictured are bones of the extinct giant Mongolian camel (Camelus knoblochi) from Central Asia
Pictured are bones of the extinct giant Mongolian camel (Camelus knoblochi) from Central Asia

The authors conclude that C. knoblochi finally went extinct primarily because it was less tolerant of desertification than today’s camels, C. ferus, the domestic Bactrian camel C. bactrianus, and the domestic Arabian camel C. dromedarius.

In the late Pleistocene, much of Mongolia’s environment became drier and changed from steppe to dry steppe and finally desert.

First author Dr. Alexey Klementiev, a paleobiologist with the Russian Academy of Sciences’ Siberian Branch, said, “We conclude that C. knoblochi became extinct in Mongolia and in Asia, generally, by the end of Marine Isotope Stage 3 (roughly 27,000 years ago) as a result of climate changes that provoked degradation of the steppe ecosystem and intensified the process of aridification.”

Related Articles

New Hittite Tablet Reveals Luwian Songs on the Fall of Troy

1 April 2025

1 April 2025

The Trojan War is one of the most famous legends of Greek mythology, yet its historicity remains a topic of...

Rare Ancient Bone Game found in Israel “Astragali”

18 August 2022

18 August 2022

Archaeologists have found a rare assemblage of animal knucklebones known as astragali used in ancient Greek games and divination in...

A Circular Building with Six Towers of the Achaemenid Period discovered in Khorasan

3 April 2024

3 April 2024

Archaeologists have uncovered an almost circular adobe building with six towers, built in the 6th century BC, near Birjand in...

A woman was buried in a canoe on her way to the ‘destination of souls’ 800 years ago

25 August 2022

25 August 2022

According to new research, Up to 800 years ago, mourners buried a young woman in a ceremonial canoe to represent...

Excavation in Larissa finds a Hellenistic era sanctuary

27 November 2021

27 November 2021

The Hellenic Ministry of Culture and Sport reported on Friday the discovery of ancient Greek and Hellenistic era structures at...

Excavation of Carlisle Roman bathhouse uncovers a connection between the site and a third-century Roman emperor

27 September 2021

27 September 2021

Excavation of a Roman bath at the Carlisle Cricket Club in Stanwix, part of the Uncovering Roman Carlisle project, has...

Archaeologists conducting excavations at the Roman Fort of Apsaros in Georgia, found evidence of the Legion X Fretensis

27 May 2023

27 May 2023

Polish scientists discovered that Legion X Fretensis, known for its brutal suppression of Jewish uprisings, was stationed in the early...

Remains of 240 people found beneath Ocky White department store in Wales

13 October 2022

13 October 2022

Archaeologists found skeletal remains of over more than 240 people, from beneath a former department store in Pembrokeshire in Wales,...

Archaeologists find sunken ancient Egyptian warship under Abu Qir Bay

26 July 2021

26 July 2021

According to a press release by the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities, the Egyptian French archaeological mission of the...

South Ockendon’s Belhus Park Golf Course: A Tudor Garden Discovered

15 July 2021

15 July 2021

Under a golf course, the ruins of Tudor and Jacobean gardens were unearthed. Aerial images of Belhus Park Golf Course...

Fingerprints Found on Orkney Pottery Belong to Young Men

14 June 2021

14 June 2021

Details of the two young guys whose fingerprints were discovered on a fragment of a clay pot dating back over...

Crusade period grave field and a sword discovered in Finland

15 October 2023

15 October 2023

A large cemetery from the time of the Crusades was discovered near a medieval stone church in Salo Perttel, a...

A Mysterious Partially Submerged Structure in Ireland is a Prehistoric Tomb, archaeologist says

25 October 2022

25 October 2022

New research has revealed that a mysterious structure found many years ago on the eastern shore of Cork Harbor in...

Researcher Says There is Similarity Between Mayan and Shu Cultures

12 April 2021

12 April 2021

The similarities between Mayan civilization and Shu culture draw the attention of researchers. As it is known, the Sanxingdui ruins,...

Archaeologists Uncover Evidence of British Rule in Florida

29 March 2025

29 March 2025

A recent archaeological excavation in St. Augustine, Florida, has revealed a British redoubt dating back to 1781, offering valuable insight...