POLAR DINOS ENDURED AND THRIVED IN THE ARCTIC

Sure, we’re all familiar with today’s polar bears, but polar dinos? Dinosaur bones have been found and excavated for some time in the Arctic region, but most paleontologists suspected those bones were left behind by an unlucky few who died there during seasonal summer migrations.

New evidence, however, has emerged that some dinosaurs made the Arctic their permanent home. Writing in the journal Current Biology, a team of scientists including Patrick Druckenmiller (University of Alaska Museum of the North) report on 80- to 62-million-year-old remains of dinosaur hatchlings, including both herbivores and carnivores, found on the Colville River of northern Alaska. The remains of baby dinosaurs were found close to the North Pole and indicate dinosaurs had settled in for year-round habitation. Far from enduring the polar chill, they seemed to thrive in it!