Nanuqsaurus hoglundi, a pygmy Tyrannosaur, once walked the frozen tundra of Alaska.
Fossils of this newly-discovered species were found in North Slope, Alaska, at the Kikak-Tegoseak Quarry in 2006. Paleontologists just recently came to the conclusion this ancient species was related to Tyrannosaurs.
Dinosaurs of this species grew to be 20 feet long - about half the length of their more famous cousin, the Tyrannosaurus rex. The Hoglundi skull recovered is 25 inches long.
The far northern climate provided the name for Nanuqsaurus. The Inupiat word for polar bear is nanuq. Paleontologists gave the extinct creature the name, meaning "polar bear lizard." Tyrannosaurus rex translates as "Tyrannt Lizard King."
Several relatives of T. rex have been identified in the last several years. Still, this new finding extends the known geographical range of these creatures. Nanuqsaurus hoglundi is the first member of that dinosaur family to be found near either pole.
"[O]verall understanding of tyrannosaurid ecology and evolution is based almost entirely on fossils from latitudes at or below southern Canada and central Asia. Remains of a new, relatively small tyrannosaurine were recovered from the earliest Late Maastrichtian (70-69Ma) of the Prince Creek Formation on Alaska's North Slope... The new taxon inhabited a seasonally extreme high-latitude continental environment on the northernmost edge of Cretaceous North America," researchers wrote in the study.
This is the first unquestioned find ever of a pygmy dinosaur. The creature is believed to be one of the last dinosaurs, living 70 million years ago.
The study was undertaken by Anthony Fiorillo and Ronald Tykoski, paleontologists from the Perot Museum of Nature and Science. Fiorillo was part of the team which first discovered the specimen eight years ago, in the frozen tundra. When they were first found, the team thought the fossils may have been another type of dinosaur, or a whale.
Researchers believe the small size of the animal may have helped the dinosaur keep itself warm during nights lasting for six months. The diminutive dinosaur likely had an excellent sense of smell and sight, allowing the animals to hunt during the long, dark nights. A superior sense of smell was required for animals to hunt in the colder conditions, when scents don't travel well. Another species of dinosaur, the Troodon, was about the same size as hoglundi, and also lived in Alaska.
"To us that is a really cool thing because it is telling us, we think, that there is something about the Arctic environment of 70 million years ago that selected for an optimal body size for a successful predator," Fiorillo told the Agence French-Presse.
Analysis of the newly-recognized species of dinosaur were published on the online scientific journal, PloS One.
