Prehistoric Russia: Steppe camel

Another concept piece for Prehistoric Russia, for the episode Altai.

Here in the Siberian Altai, we see a Steppe camel (Camelus knoblochi), in early winter, striding through some of the rich steppe grasses, dappled with snow, among scattered boreal forest.
The steppe camel existed primarily during the Middle Pleistocene, when its range was at its greatest, spanning from Eastern Europe to Transbaikalia, though it is known from various Late Pleistocene sites as well, where it had a reduced range, between the Ural mountains and Northeastern China, inhabiting parts of what is now Central Asia and Southern Siberia. It is the largest camelid known to have spanned Eurasia, exceeding even the modern Bactrian camel (Camelus ferus and Camelus bactrianus) in size. The late Pleistocene remains of this species are scant, and have been suggested by some to merely represent Bactrian camels, believed by some to be directly descended from the steppe camel.

When its remains were first discovered, it was assumed that the steppe camel was representative of arid environments, like the modern species, but with more findings and associated fauna, it was clear that this camel was part of the Mammuthus primigenius-Coelodonta antiquitatis faunal complex, being at home in steppe or even forest-steppe environments, as opposed to being a desert animal. In the increasingly arid conditions present in parts of the Late Pleistocene, it appears that the steppe camel was unable to survive in the dry climates, and was replaced by the hardier, albeit smaller, Bactrian camel.
Even modern feral camels (Dromedaries in this case) appear to show a preference to softer, more juicy vegetation to tough desert plants. Indeed, reduction in the number of available water sources has been a major factor influencing the success of camels in the wild today, despite their hardy physiology. Adaptations of both extant and fossil varieties suggest an ability to feed on canopy vegetation, so it appears that adaptations to life in arid conditions are recent and were absent in the Plio-Pleistocene camelines, and that the flexibility of their feeding habits allowed them to spread across the world and survive in differing environments. Camels may prosper better in non-arid environments, but appear to have been restricted to arid environments by competition from more competitive herbivores in other areas.