New fossil find reveals dinosaurs lived & reproduced in Arctic over 70 mn years ago: Study

Scientists have found fossil evidence that species of dinosaurs reproduced and lived the whole year at the Prince Creek Formation in northern Alaska. The discovery of fossils includes tiny teeth and bones of just-hatched baby dinosaurs or about to hatch babies, according to the study. The new study shows that at least seven dinosaur species were capable of nesting at extremely high altitudes.

The findings of the study have been published in the Journal Current Biology. Pat Druckenmiller, the paper's lead author and director of the University of Alaska Museum of the North said that an earlier study had proved that the dinosaurs lived in the Arctic 70 million years ago. He said that the new study revealed that the dinosaurs could also "reproduce at these high altitudes". 

“We now have unequivocal evidence they were nesting up there as well. This is the first time that anyone has ever demonstrated that dinosaurs could reproduce at these high latitudes," said Druckenmillen in the press release.

The research team discovered a collection of bones and teeth from infant dinosaurs. The fossils are from at least seven types of dinosaurs that are either just hatched or just about to hatch. The findings show that the animals did not migrate to lower latitudes for the winter and laid their eggs in those warmer regions. 

“One of the biggest mysteries about Arctic dinosaurs was whether they seasonally migrated up to the North or were year-round denizens,” said Erickson, a co-author of the paper in the press release.

After finding the fossils, the scientists worked with palaeontologists from the Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology in Alberta, Canada, to compare the fossils to those from other sites at lower latitudes. These comparisons concluded that the bones and teeth were from perinatal dinosaurs. The scientists realised that the dinosaurs were nesting in the Arctic and had lived their entire life at high altitudes. 

“As dark and bleak as the winters would have been, the summers would have had 24-hour sunlight, great conditions for a growing dinosaur if it could grow quickly enough before winter set in,” said Caleb Brown, a paleontologist at the Royal Tyrrell Museum in the press release.

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