Collagen: The Fibrous Proteins of the Matrix

Species identification of archeological marine mammals using collagen fingerprinting

Mid-Pliocene warm-period deposits in the High Arctic yield insight into camel evolution

Giant Camels from the Cenozoic of North America

"Cute" Tropical Camels: Prehistoric Species Found in Panama

Camels are so well adapted to the desert that it's hard to imagine them living anywhere else. But what if we have them pegged all wrong? What if those big humps, feet and eyes were evolved for a different climate and a different time? In this talk, join Radiolab's Latif Nasser as he tells the surprising story of how a very tiny, very strange fossil upended the way he sees camels, and the world. This talk comes from the PBS special "TED Talks: Science & Wonder."

Latif Nasser: You have no idea where camels really come from

You have no idea where camels really come from

A tiny fossil discovery by Natalia Rybczynski in the Arctic challenges our perception of camels, suggesting a snowy origin.

Collagen fingerprinting of a 3.5 million-year-old bone reveals it belonged to a giant Arctic camel, redefining its evolutionary journey.

The camel's desert adaptations, like fat-storing humps and broad feet, may have originally evolved for surviving harsh Arctic winters.