Dinosaurs may have lived in the Arctic year-round!

Dinosaurs lived in the Arctic around 70 million years ago. We have been discovering dinosaur fossils in the Arctic for 70 years. However, most paleontologists assumed that these came from dinosaurs that ventured north during summers and migrated south to avoid the harsh winters. But, new research shows that during that time, dinosaurs may have resided in Alaska year-round. That's what today's blog is about. 

(Image; Dinosaurs. Credit: JAMES HAVENS/ Science Magazine) 

Alaska remained covered in seawater during the Triassic and Jurassic periods. Alaska began emerging from its underwater environment and became more of a terrestrial environment during the Cretaceous, with a rich flora and dinosaur fauna. 

As a side note, during the early Cenozoic Period (Earth's current geological era, representing the last 66 million years of Earth's history), Alaska had a subtropical environment. The local seas continued to drop until a land bridge connected the state with Asia. Early humans crossed this bridge and remains of contemporary local wildlife such as woolly mammoths often show signs of having been butchered.

Dinosaurs may have lived in the Arctic year-round

Alex Viveros, SCIENCE  Jun. 25, 2021 , 3:25 PM

Alaska is known today for its brown and black bears, but about 70 million years ago, dinosaurs likely called the land home. A new study suggests at least half a dozen species, including some tyrannosaurs, lived in the Arctic year-round, The Guardian reports. Researchers found fossils of very young dinosaurs in northern Alaska, suggesting the creatures were permanent residents of the area and nested there, they write this week in Current Biology. 

The journal reported the discovery of perinatal and very young dinosaurs from  —the Cretaceous Prince Creek Formation (PCF) of northern Alaska. 

Image: The red dot indicates the  location of the Prince Creek Formation in northern Alaska. The Prince Creek Formation is a geological formation in Alaska with strata dating to the Early  stage of the Late Cretaceous. Dinosaur remains are among the fossils that have been recovered from the formation. Cr: Wikipedia) 

The discovery showed large- and small-bodied ornithischian (bird) and theropod (dinosaur) species reproduced in the Arctic environment.. In terms of overall diversity, 70% of the known dinosaurian families, as well as avialans (birds), in the PCF are represented by perinatal (a number of weeks, immediately before and after birth) individuals, the highest percentage for any North American Cretaceous formation. 

Though dinosaur fossils have been found in the Arctic before, no one knew whether they lived there seasonally or full time. 

Scientists say the new study might answer that question—while raising a whole host of new ones, including how the dinosaurs were able to tolerate potentially brutal Arctic winters.