A n c i e n t P l a n e t
Dinosaurs on Ice
O n l i n e
A Review of Arc tic and
j o u r n a l
Antarc tic Dinos aur s By Tristan Stock
D
inosaurs are often thought to have lived in warmweather environments, like swamps and tropical forests, and for a long time these were the only places where
we found their fossils. However, recent discoveries over the last 20 years have proven this false, and revealed that dinosaurs were not just limited to the warm-weather world of the Equator. Fossils of dinosaurs have been turning up in the most unlikely of places, from the frigid cold of Alaska’s North Slope, to coastal Mountains of Antarctica. What were these animals doing in what are today the harshest environments on Earth? And how on Earth did they survive in such unforgiving conditions?
Alaska 70 million years ago would have been deep within the Arctic Circle, giving the dinosaurs living there, like Troodon, a brilliant view of the northern lights. Scientists are unsure if the Troodon fossils from Alaska represent a new species or genus of dinosaur unique to this region. Original artwork by Julio Lacerda 137