American Museum of Natural History

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Fanged camel named from a century-old museum collection

Holds the Frick collection and employs the study's lead author

For decades, cabinets at the American Museum of Natural History held camel skulls labeled with a name nobody had ever formally published: "Machairocamelus," the knife camel. A monograph uploaded in November 2026 gave the animal a real name, Vampyrocamelus welshi, and a place in an extinct lineage of long-necked, lanky camels.

Updated 2 hours ago

Gobi fossil overturns 40-year classification of the 'Cretaceous rabbit'

New Capabilities

As of September 2026: Lead institution in the research team

For 38 years, zhelestids were known only from molars that looked like the plant-grinding teeth of hoofed mammals. That led paleontologists to place them near the origin of placental mammals, the group that includes humans. A nearly complete skeleton from Mongolia's Gobi Desert now shows those molars were misleading.

Updated Sep 28