Biomedical Ephemera, or: A Frog for Your Boils

Top Left: Llama - Lama glama Top Right: Vicugna - Lama guanicoe Center: Alpaca - Vicugna pacos (previously categorized in genus Lama) Bottom: Bactrian camel - Camelus bactrianus

The Camelids are Artiodactyla (even-toed ungulates) that first evolved in North America during the Eocene epoch (55.8 MYA - 33.9 MYA). Like horses, this group of animals evolved here for millions of years, but went extinct in North America after populations crossed the Bering land bridge.

Unlike horses, however, the Camelids not only crossed over into Asia, but they also went south, into South America, during the Great American Exchange.

The camelids which moved south evolved into what we now know as the tribe Lamini - the llama and guanaco (genus Lama), and alpaca and vicugna (genus Vicugna). The camelids which traveled into Asia, the Middle East, and North Africa, evolved into the tribe Camelini - the Bactrian and dromedary camels (genus Camelus).

The Animal Kingdom, based on the writings of Eminent Naturalists: Vol 2. Hugh Craig, 1902.

Not positive what exactly the sooty paca (aka the cavy, aka the guinea pig) has to do with the camelids, and the only thing the musk deer has to do with camelids is that it's an even-toed ungulate.

Zoology. Frederick Warne, mid-1800s.

Fun fact: when camelids spit on you, that's not saliva. It's juice from their rumen...basically the partially-digested, half-fermented juicy bits from what they've been eating.

Grand Illustrated Encyclopedia of Animated Nature, embracing a full description of the different races of men. And of the Characteristic Habits and Modes of Life of the various Beasts, Birds, Fishes, Insects, Reptiles, and Microscopic Animalcula of the Globe. Being a Complete History of the Animal Kingdom by John Frost, L.L.D. 1856.

Llamas, guanacos, alpacas, and vicunas are the remaining American camelids. True camelids began to develop in North America, then migrated south to South America and north across the Bering Strait, into Asia and Africa. As the populations moved apart, they began evolving to adapt to their habitats and became distinct species. Still, until the last ice age, the different camelids existed throughout the Americas. According to Donald Prothero (no relation to Ernest) in his 2002 book Horns, tusks, and flippers: the evolution of hoofed mammals, the North American camelids survived until nearly the end of the last ice age, and there is evidence that they were hunted by the early North American natives.

The Handy Natural History. Ernest Protheroe, 1910.