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Description
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.

Tito v, V. V. , 2008. Habitat conditions for Camelus knoblochi and factors in its extinction. Quaternary International 179(1) 120–125.

Unfortunately, no exact dates exist for when exactly in the Late Pleistocene the steppe camel became extinct, so I'm taking a slight liberty by placing it 45,000 years ago in Prehistoric Russia.

In accordance to my inclusion if this species during MIS 3, I did my homework. According to Bolikhovskaya et al. 2014, palynological evidence from the Gorny-Altai (=Northwestern Altai= my preferred location) reveals a mix of forest and steppe:
The Karga Interglacial (MIS 3) is represented by Denisova stratum 11 and Ust-Karakol strata 11–8. Available data suggest a relatively cold and humid climate. Spruce forests with Siberian pine prevailed in the Anui valley. During climatic optima, the portion of birch increased whereas elm, linden, and hazel appeared.

At Karama, the Karga Interglacial correlates with a buried soil embedded in subaerial covering deposits. Pollen spectra from the buried soil (Fig. 2) attest to the presence of thick spruce forests, which means that dark coniferous taiga in the Anui valley descended to the modern upper limit of the alpine forest-steppe belt.

PLEISTOCENE ENVIRONMENTS OF NORTHWESTERN ALTAI: VEGETATION AND CLIMATE

FUN FACT:
As it turns out, the Zimov family hope to one day add Bactrian camels to their Pleistocene Park in Cherskiy, Yakutia/Sakha Republic, Russia, presumably as a stand-in for the steppe camel.
www.geocurrents.info/place/rus…
However, it should be noted that steppe camels never reached that far north. Just check this map: sta.sh/01wfk4bejdq7

Additionally, I couldn't help but do something really weird.
I am the "mastermind" behind 's PARC Contest: Obscurity and, after checking if it was OK with , I'm going to submit this as an entry... to my own contest
Why? I don't really expect to or want to win, nor am I drawn to it by the incentives of winning.

It's just that this is a species that I don't want to see go to waste.

I found a total of 4 reconstructions of this, by 2 paleoartists. This'll make me the 3rd paleoartist to reconstruct it, creating the 5th reconstruction of it, maxing out the number of reconstructions applicable.
3 by Roman Uchytel (same camel, different backgrounds, but I'll be generous):
prehistoric-fauna.com/image/ca…
prehistoric-fauna.com/image/ca…
prehistoric-fauna.com/image/ca…

And 1 by , where it has a cameo appearance:
www.deviantart.com/art/Prehist…

AFAIK I don't have an unfair advantage since people will vote for the winner (unless I were to rig them, which I don't know how to do).

Update: Adjusted the brightness and contrast to my liking, and adjusted the cropping of the original scanned image (yes, I first uploaded a cropped one.)
Damn, the horizon's angle looks off. Plus, the two fir trees in the far right are wonky.

Here's the original, uncropped version:
sta.sh/0i4e71o6ap1

Description
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.

Tito v, V. V. , 2008. Habitat conditions for Camelus knoblochi and factors in its extinction. Quaternary International 179(1) 120–125.

Unfortunately, no exact dates exist for when exactly in the Late Pleistocene the steppe camel became extinct, so I'm taking a slight liberty by placing it 45,000 years ago in Prehistoric Russia.

In accordance to my inclusion if this species during MIS 3, I did my homework. According to Bolikhovskaya et al. 2014, palynological evidence from the Gorny-Altai (=Northwestern Altai= my preferred location) reveals a mix of forest and steppe:
The Karga Interglacial (MIS 3) is represented by Denisova stratum 11 and Ust-Karakol strata 11–8. Available data suggest a relatively cold and humid climate. Spruce forests with Siberian pine prevailed in the Anui valley. During climatic optima, the portion of birch increased whereas elm, linden, and hazel appeared.

At Karama, the Karga Interglacial correlates with a buried soil embedded in subaerial covering deposits. Pollen spectra from the buried soil (Fig. 2) attest to the presence of thick spruce forests, which means that dark coniferous taiga in the Anui valley descended to the modern upper limit of the alpine forest-steppe belt.

PLEISTOCENE ENVIRONMENTS OF NORTHWESTERN ALTAI: VEGETATION AND CLIMATE

FUN FACT:
As it turns out, the Zimov family hope to one day add Bactrian camels to their Pleistocene Park in Cherskiy, Yakutia/Sakha Republic, Russia, presumably as a stand-in for the steppe camel.
www.geocurrents.info/place/rus…
However, it should be noted that steppe camels never reached that far north. Just check this map: sta.sh/01wfk4bejdq7

Additionally, I couldn't help but do something really weird.
I am the "mastermind" behind 's PARC Contest: Obscurity and, after checking if it was OK with , I'm going to submit this as an entry... to my own contest
Why? I don't really expect to or want to win, nor am I drawn to it by the incentives of winning.

It's just that this is a species that I don't want to see go to waste.

I found a total of 4 reconstructions of this, by 2 paleoartists. This'll make me the 3rd paleoartist to reconstruct it, creating the 5th reconstruction of it, maxing out the number of reconstructions applicable.
3 by Roman Uchytel (same camel, different backgrounds, but I'll be generous):
prehistoric-fauna.com/image/ca…
prehistoric-fauna.com/image/ca…
prehistoric-fauna.com/image/ca…

And 1 by , where it has a cameo appearance:
www.deviantart.com/art/Prehist…

AFAIK I don't have an unfair advantage since people will vote for the winner (unless I were to rig them, which I don't know how to do).

Update: Adjusted the brightness and contrast to my liking, and adjusted the cropping of the original scanned image (yes, I first uploaded a cropped one.)
Damn, the horizon's angle looks off. Plus, the two fir trees in the far right are wonky.

Here's the original, uncropped version:
sta.sh/0i4e71o6ap1