Juland Camel

Talcamelus julandensis

The Juland Camel (Talcamelus Julandensis) is a large high browsing herbivore of Juland's grasslands. Living in loose herds, the Juland camel spend most of their day traveling long distances between sparse open woodlands that dot the otherwise endless grassland, scrubland and desert. Although descendant of more primitive camel ancestors, Talcamelus has convergently evolved traits to help survive in this arid climate. A large hump adorns the back which holds fat reserves like surface camels, this allows the camels to survive long migrations east during the dry season.

The long neck and slanted body similar to a giraffe or brachiosauroid sauropod indicates its high browsing lifestyle. Many of the trees of Juland sport dangerous defenses, most notably needles and spikes, remnants of a time when sauropods would strip entire trees of their leaves. This is where Talcamelus stands out against its competition, the camel's rotating chew distributes pressure from the leaves spikey defenses and the papillae slide the needles vertically down the throat.

When threatened, Talcamelus can project it's feces out from behind it while running at pursuing predators, while the feces alone would be enough to discourage a predator, the camel's diet of spikey vegetation means the tongue is usually filled with the undigested thorns which are flung in the feces like shrapnel, giving the predator a face full of feces covered thorns, and a heightened risk of a serious infection.

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Artiodactyla
Family: Camelidae
Tribe: Camelini
Genus: Talcamelus
Species: T. julandensis