The researchers detailed in the report that fossilized bones found along Alaska’s Colville River were from a distinct species of hadrosaur, a duck-billed dinosaur.
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However, the research team theorized that the Ugrunaaluk Kuukpikensis used to spend the winter months in darkness due to the temperatures dropping down to two (2) degrees Celsius (36 degrees Fahrenheit).
The discovery of this new dinosaur found in Alaska gives researchers a chance to study a brand new duck billed dinosaur that roamed the Earth more than 69 million years in the past. For more than 20 years, the fossils were lumped in with Edmontosaurus, another Hardosaur, and the species is well-known in Canada, as well as parts of the United States.
From here, the researchers will continue to dig in the fossil rich Prince Creek Formation, exploring fossil specimens from the 13 different dinosaur species they have estimated are buried in sediments there. This theory was based on the fact the small juvenile dinosaurs could not have been physically capable of the long-distance seasonal migration.
“Alaska is basically the last frontier”, said Erickson.
Researchers have dubbed the creature Ugrunaaluk kuukpikensis.
A new and freakish fossil from a duck-billed dinosaur have been found in the high Arctic of Alaska which has shaken up how scientists have viewed dinosaurs in general.
The dinosaurs grew up to 30 feet (9 meters) long.
“They were definitely not like a typical lizard in their morphology”, Druckenmiller said.
Dinosaur fossils have been found in regions further to the north than these – specifically hadrosaur bones discovered on Axel Heiberg Island in Nunavut.
Prof. Erickson said the latest fossil findings have piqued the curiosity of scientists as to how these dinosaurs survived.
“It appears that a herd of young animals was killed suddenly, wiping out mostly one similar-aged population to create this deposit”, Druckenmiller said.
WATCH BELOW:Professor Gregory Erickson, of Florida State University, discusses this incredible new find. They published their findings in the “Acta Palaeontologica Polonica”, an global paleontology quarterly journal.
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There are several ways a dinosaur could survive in those temperatures – the meat eaters might have been covered with feathers to provide insulation against the cold, while the plant eaters may have been good at storing fat. “But not all of the material we find is adequate enough to actually name a new species”.
