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High Arctic camels, like those shown in this illustration, lived on Ellesmere Island during the Pliocene warm period about 3.5 million years ago. (Image: Julius Csotonyi) Camels are the poster animals for the desert, but researchers now have evidence that these shaggy beasts once lived in the Canadian High Arctic. The fossil remains of a 3.5-million-year-old camel were found on Ellesmere Island in Canada's northernmost territory, Nunavut. The camel was about 30 percent bigger than modern camels and was identified using a technique called collagen fingerprinting. The finding, detailed in March 5 in the journal Nature Communications, suggests that...

Camels get their humps from giant ancestors which roamed the Arctic rather than the desert and stored fat on their back to help them survive polar conditions, researchers claim.New fragments of leg bone discovered in the far north of Canada suggest that modern camels are descended from ancestors which lived within the Arctic Circle. Thirty fossilised pieces of a lower leg bone belonging to a camel which lived 3.5 million years ago were found by researchers on Ellesmere Island, in Canada's High Arctic. The giant mammals would likely have measured up to 3.5m (11ft) in height and had one hump...

GGeico's advertising from The Martin Agency is consistently funny, but the company rarely has a giant viral hit. That changed this summer, though—and the big winner wasn't a gecko, a caveman or a pig. It was a camel. The insurer's "Hump Day" spot, which broke in May, has earned 15 million YouTube views, more than every other current video on Geico's YouTube channel combined. (The ad also has the obvious though still peculiar distinction of being shared on Wednesdays vastly more than any other day.) Given the success, it's not surprising Geico and Martin are trotting out the motormouthed mammal...

Time spent in the company of camels reveals that the sociable animals can be particular when it comes to sharing their milkBader lifted the rope that circled the camel pen and we entered. The 50 or so camels casually went about their business, showing little interest in us, until Bader began to summon them with a deep, long call. One by one the camels lifted their heads and ambled in our direction, with their eyes fixed firmly on us. They crowded around us, jostling for position. They used their long necks to nudge one another aside, so as to get...

From camel carpaccio to camel bourguignon and gold-leaf burger, the meat offered traditionally at big festivities of bedouins has become a fancy ingredient in the Gulf's prestigious restaurants. Under the golden dome of Abu Dhabi's Emirates Palace, which bills itself as a seven-star hotel, French chef Sandro Gamba proudly presents his latest: a camel burger bedded in gold-leaf bread, served with onion jam and smoked halloumi cheese. On the side, the traditional french fries have been replaced by fried hummus fingers.

A police officer in the United Arab Emirates says a camel trainer drowned after his animal raced into the sea north of Dubai. The National newspaper on Tuesday quotes police Maj. Khalid Ali Obaid al-Ali as saying the Sudanese man took the camel to be washed in the Persian Gulf in Sharjah, the emirate north of Dubai. The report said the camel ran into the sea and the trainer followed into deep water.

The struggling nation of Somaliland is betting these beasts of burden will be on the menu far and wide.From early in the morning until midday, the streets of southern Hargeisa, Somaliland periodically shut down as hundreds of camels trundle along the narrow city streets. Taxi drivers give way, milling on the side of the road, wiping their cars clean of the dust and mud kicked up by the procession. Ultimately, the beasts file through the gates of the Hargeisa Camel Market. No one really runs the market. It’s just one of dozens of sites across the country where nomads, locals,...

As the rush intensifies to find new reserves of fossil fuels, digs throughout the West are yielding another byproduct -- fossils. Oilfield workers in western Oklahoma have unearthed deposits of fossils containing extinct species of camel and horse, along with as-yet-uncounted other animals, while excavating a new well, Oklahoma City’s The Oklahoman reports. An earthmover uncovered the fossilized bones in July after removing 6 meters of soil in the state-run Packsaddle Wildlife Management Area. Paleontologists brought to the scene identified 13 separate fossil deposits, which have tentatively been dated as far back as 5 million to 12 million years. Among...

... A local official had given the camel to Mr Hollande in gratitude for France spearheading a drive to flush out Islamic extremists from Mali. But the well-intentioned gift soon proved a liability. The camel ruined its handover ceremony by drowning out a Malian official's speech with its screeching. Mr Hollande's voice could just be heard over the din when he promised: "I will use it as a means of transport as often as possible." ... The camel had already embarrassed Mr Hollande when Said Toureg, a man from the Timbuktu region, claimed that it had been stolen from him...

OTTAWA – Ancient, mummified camel bones dug from the tundra confirm that the animals now synonymous with the arid sands of Arabia actually developed in subfreezing forests in what is now Canada's High Arctic, a scientist said Tuesday. About 3.5 million years ago, Strathcona Fiord on Ellesmere Island's west-central coast would have looked more like a northern forest than an Arctic landscape, said paleobotanist Natalia Rybczynski of the Canadian Museum of Nature in Ottawa.

Ali Al Saloom is a cultural adviser and public speaker from the UAE. Dear Ali: Do people eat camel meat in the UAE? And if so, why? And where can I taste it? CQ, Dubai Dear CQ: Yes, we do eat camel meat. It might sound odd but it is like coming across crocodile meat at a hotel in Dubai. I was really shocked and thought: wow, I didn't know you can eat it. But it was no surprise to my Ozzie friends. See, camel meat is one of our national specialities and is regarded as a "comfort food" that...

(Reuters) - Arab-American groups have sharply criticized a Coca-Cola Super Bowl ad depicting an Arab walking through the desert with a camel, and one group said it would ask the beverage giant to change it before CBS airs the game on Sunday before an expected audience of more than 100 million U.S. viewers. "Why is it that Arabs are always shown as either oil-rich sheiks, terrorists, or belly dancers?" said Warren David, president of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, or ADC. Coca-Cola released an online teaser of the commercial last week, showing the Arab walking through a desert. He soon sees...

Pushed out by large crowd watching the stunt performance Saudi ArabiaAn old Saudi man driving a pick-up laden with a camel plunged into a pit as he tried to avert being hit by a car involved in stunt performance in Saudi Arabia. A 200-second YouTube film showed the pickup fell into the pit and remained stuck there for several minutes for it was pushed out by a large crowd gathering to watch the stunt performance in a sandy area in the northwestern town of Hail. It was clear from the film, carried in Jazan News and other Saudi newspapers, that...

Want to take a ride on a real camel in northeast Fresno to get an experience of the Middle East? The Islamic Cultural Center of Fresno is offering camel rides -- and more -- at its first bazaar, which will be from 4 to 10 p.m. Oct. 27 at the center, 2111 E. Nees Ave. The center is making arrangements to bring the camel from the Los Angeles area. Huda Munjy, chairwoman of the bazaar and a board member at the center, says the camel rides are to provide the community with an experience they can enjoy and remember for...

The Emirates Palace Hotel organizes a unique contest to choose the best Berger Sandwich made of camel meat. The head-chef of the place started the contest by choosing 5 working chefs to prepare 5 Camel burger sandwiches. Media representatives who attended the contest, have voted for the best meal, in the presence of a number of officials of Emirates Palace. First place Camel burger sandwich winner was Chef Amit Gomes. The head-chef decided to place his winning sandwich on the Emirates Palace’s / Le Cafe / list of available food and a number of restaurants in the palace, to be...

A camel kicked his 70-year-old Saudi owner to death after it went mad when the farmer and his workers tried to push the animal onto a van to sell it. The camel stubbornly resisted all attempts to be loaded onto the van and kept baring its teeth as if to tell its owner it refuses to be sold. After failing to move the camel, which kept lying down, its owner in turn went mad and started pushing it violently towards the van.

NPR Morning Edition host Steve Inskeep is taking a Revolutionary Road trip from Tunisia to Cairo to see how the countries that staged revolutions last year are remaking themselves. He's also sharing with us here at The Salt what he's been eating. Dear Salt, In Tripoli, there is an outdoor restaurant called Al-Athar, which is located next to an ancient Roman arch. And my eyes were drawn to the menu item that said "baby camel." I tell you, you do not order a meal with a name like this without first pausing to think. The menu might as well have...

The al Qaeda affiliate in Somalia has mocked the new $33 million bounty on its top leaders heads by offering its own bounty for President Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton – 10 camels for Obama and 20 chickens for Clinton. "Anyone who helps the Mujahideen find the whereabouts of Obama and Hillary Clinton will be rewarded with 10 Camels to the information leading to Obama and 10 hens and 10 cocks for Hillary," said senior Shabaab commander Fuad Mohamed Khalaf in a statement reported on numerous websites.

Police car bears brunt of damagePolice officers in the town of Sar-lat in southwest France were nonplussed when a camel smashed in the front window of their Ford Focus patrol car earlier this month. "There was nothing I could do," police officer Laurent Legal, who collided with the animal, said. "It's a good thing I wasn't driving very fast." The 500-kilogram animal, named Pépette, was part of a Christmas market attraction, along with his mate Cléopatre. After a hectic day of rides and a stint in the petting zoo, Pépette was spooked by a number of fans who crowded its...

A camel broke free from its farm in Saudi Arabia and ran amok through the streets, damaging cars and sending frightened people into their homes. The camel chased passers by and smashed car windows as it kept running astray through the streets of the western town of Taif. Its owner chased and tried to stop the animal but could not and the situation was quickly reversed when the owner was himself chased by the camel. “Car started to honk and this made the camel more mad…after wreaking havoc, the camel ran out of the streets and disappeared,” the Arabic language...