Giant Camel Discovered
Posted by: Loren Coleman on October 9th, 2006
On Monday, October 9, 2006, the Associated Press was widely disseminating the news that a 13 feet tall camel — double the size of the modern-day camel — has been discovered in Syria. The bones, above, clearly show, compared to the modern camel, this animal was a big one.
The giant camel apparently “poses a revolution in the world of archaeological discoveries,” according to Bassam Jammous, director general of the Antiquities and Museum Department in Syria. He also said the Syrian desert “is the first origin of the camel.”
Dating back 100,000 years, the fossil bones were discovered by a joint Syrian-Swiss archaeological team at the site of al Hemel in the Palmyra region about 155 miles northeast of Damascus, the state-run Tishrin Daily reported on Saturday, October 7.
The timing of this “new” announcement is strange, as the discovery of the bones was first reported in 2005.
About Loren Coleman
Loren Coleman is one of the world’s leading cryptozoologists, some say “the” leading living cryptozoologist. Certainly, he is acknowledged as the current living American researcher and writer who has most popularized cryptozoology in the late 20th and early 21st centuries.
Starting his fieldwork and investigations in 1960, after traveling and trekking extensively in pursuit of cryptozoological mysteries, Coleman began writing to share his experiences in 1969. An honorary member of Ivan T. Sanderson’s Society for the Investigation of the Unexplained in the 1970s, Coleman has been bestowed with similar honorary memberships of the North Idaho College Cryptozoology Club in 1983, and in subsequent years, that of the British Columbia Scientific Cryptozoology Club, CryptoSafari International, and other international organizations. He was also a Life Member and Benefactor of the International Society of Cryptozoology (now-defunct).
Loren Coleman’s daily blog, as a member of the Cryptomundo Team, served as an ongoing avenue of communication for the ever-growing body of cryptozoo news from 2005 through 2013. He returned as an infrequent contributor beginning Halloween week of 2015.
Coleman is the founder in 2003, and current director of the International Cryptozoology Museum in Portland, Maine.
This is a terrific find! With all the focus on “dinosaurs, dinosaurs, dinosaurs”, it’s great to hear about new species of prehistoric MAMMALS being discovered!
It could be possible that some of these large camels may still roam in SYRIA.
I’m sure the timing was only so that they could sift through data and make sure of what they were dealing with before going public with it. Very fascinating find and as for surviving specimens, have there been reported sightings of oversized camels? Regardless of whether there are or aren’t, we’re still discovering new animals that existed in prehistoric ages, which is exciting. Sort of retro-cryptozoology.
Imagine riding this beast, I’m gettin seasick just thinking about it. A really amazing find, though I believe any surviving camels this size would have been known by now. Anyone know if this was a seperate species, or if camels just got smaller gradually until becoming the size they are today?
One hump or two? 😉
Interesting find! That’s pretty darn big/tall for a camel.
“It could be possible that some of these large camels may still roam in SYRIA.”
Hard to deny that it “could be possible”, but they’d be kinda hard to miss.
I have to agree with Sky King. It would be like finding a living Mammoth or Mastadon in Siberia. It is ‘possible’ but very, very unlikely.
I am interested to see if they have any viable DNA to see if this is a separate species or if our modern camels are directly descended from these giants.
As for the time delay, Lucy’s sister/child was unearthed several years ago and the reports have only just hit the Main Stream Media; it is better to be sure of what you have than to have to muck about in unknowns (like homo florensis seems to be doing).
I’ve been following this and I haven’t seen anything proposing that this animal still exists.
“He also said the Syrian desert “is the first origin of the camel.””
iirc, didn’t the camel family originate in North America?
“iirc, didn’t the camel family originate in North America?”
Well, the camel family did, around 40 million years ago, it’s said, so I guess we can say that the first camels were in the Americas. There’s no known survivors of those north of the Isthmus of Panama, however.
They were re-introduced as pack animals in the Old West, circa 1855. I often wonder if some didn’t survive well into the 20th century here.
“Here” meaning the American Southwest, I mean… sure would like to see some ambling across the Taos Plateau. I’d love to ride one into the Sangres. In the summer, I mean…
I remember reading that one of the things pointed out as a “biblical inaccuracy” is that camels weren’t used far back in old testament times, so then these stories must have been written later. Frankly, I believe the Bible, so accounts of modern cryptids make more sense to me. It seems reasonable that they could survive. I know not everyone shares that viewpoint and I’m not pushing any religious views here, but that camels are quite ancient in that part of the world is encouraging to me.
From my readings and studies on the mammoths as of today there have been many reports from hunters that claim the whooly mammoth still roams the outer reaches of many inner regions of siberia and hunters have heard roars from what sounds like mammoth. I do many researches about the whooly mammoth.
Is it possible however that some camels may have a throwback to the earlier camels? Lawrence of Arabia had a a large female camel much admired by his followers. A “Ghazalian” camel that others of its same origin were known to outpace and outdistance “finer” camels of the entire Arabian and Saharian region.