At least these groups had endothermy,” he stated, referring to the ability of animals to heat their bodies through internal functions. If they overwintered there, they had to deal with conditions that we don’t usually associate with dinosaurs, like freezing conditions and snow. “If they reproduced, then they over-wintered there. Druckenmiller believes that their fossil findings (70-million-year-old baby dinosaur bones and eggs) upend past assumptions that dinosaurs were cold-blooded reptiles. Pat Druckenmiller, Director of the University of Alaska Museum of the North is the lead author of a study just published in the journal Current Biology. But he is confident that there are still many fossils left to be discovered there.Īlaska Dinosaur Discoveries and Dino DebatesĪcross the continent on the Alaskan side, more recent reports of dinosaur fossil excavations emerging within the Arctic Circle are stirring up some debate in the paleontology community. They also have to contend with the reality that permafrost tends to break up fossil skeletons as it grinds through its freeze-thaw cycles. Vavrek also said that paleontologists have barely looked for dinosaur fossils in the Canadian High Arctic because of its exorbitant cost and brutal logistics to get there. Currie Dinosaur Museum in Grand Prairie, Alta., explained that the discovery helps to reveal the true range of where dinosaurs once roamed. Vavrek, curator and head paleontologist at the Philip J. Hadrosaurs were herbivores who sported stylish duckbills and sometimes crests atop their heads, and this particular hadrosaur was about 8 meters (26 ft) long.
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