Name: Did Some Dinosaurs Breed in the Arctic?
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Scientists in Alaska discover the remains of seven different dinosaur species in the earliest stages of their development. Could baby dinosaurs have hatched in the Arctic and migrated thousands of miles with their parents to avoid polar winter?

70 million years ago, several species of dinosaur nested in the Arctic.

Did Some Dinosaurs Breed in the Arctic?

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Scientists in Alaska discover the remains of seven different dinosaur species in the earliest stages of their development. Could baby dinosaurs have hatched in the Arctic and migrated thousands of miles with their parents to avoid polar winter?

70 million years ago, several species of dinosaur nested in the Arctic.

Evolution

Did Some Dinosaurs Breed in the Arctic?Published: February 3, 2022Narrator: Pat and Greg finds something exceedingly rare and a potential clue to the mystery of the lifestyle of polar dinosaurs. Very small bones they suspect are from a very young dinosaur. Some are no larger than the head of a pin.Pat Druckenmiller: This was a totally unexpected discovery. When we first started to see these small teeth and bones, it was really a jaw-dropping experience.Narrator: Further investigation reveals remains of the teeth and bones of seven different species of dinosaur, all in their very earliest stages of development. It's evidence that 70 million years ago, several species of dinosaurs nested in the Arctic, not only living in Alaska during the mild summer, but breeding here as well.Druckenmiller: It raises a whole bunch of really interesting questions. One of the most important is if they reproduced in the Arctic, is it actually possible for them to have also had time to migrate to lower latitudes?Narrator: If migratory, dinosaurs would have to move north, incubate, and hatch their eggs. And men returned to the south 2,000 miles away with baby dinosaurs in tow, in order to escape the depth of the polar winter shadow. And all between spring and early fall. Could the hatchlings have managed it? One important clue can be found inside specimens like this. Less than an eighth of an inch long. It looks like a drill bit, but it's actually a tooth from a baby dinosaur.Gregory Erickson: When teeth form, daily growth lines are laid down. And by counting those up, one can figure out how long it took dinosaurs to incubate their eggs. So we looked at really small embryos, animals that were just about to hatch out, and we're able to figure out really large dinosaur eggs took six months to incubate.Narrator: If it took large animals, such as Ugrunaaluk, six months to hatch, and eggs were laid during the spring, the dinosaurs would have only one month to move south before the onset of polar winter.Erickson: There's no way that those dinosaurs could have hatched out and made a 2,000 mile trek all the way down to Alberta to warmer climatic conditions. It just wasn't possible.

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Did Some Dinosaurs Breed in the Arctic?

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Support Provided By

Explore More

A student’s curiosity might change how we classify dinosaurs

Alaskan Dinosaurs

Fossilized Dung Reveals Clues About Dinosaurs' Diet