Abstract

Scientists never thought that dinosaurs lived in the Arctic and Antarctic. But they were wrong! In the 1960s we started discovering dinosaur remains in these harsh environments. 

Scientists wondered whether dinosaurs lived there year round. Could they have survived the freezing, dark winter? If they did, then dinosaurs must have laid eggs and babies must have been hatched there.

So, we went digging for evidence of dinosaur reproduction in the Arctic. We went to northern Alaska to study rocks in the Prince Creek Formation. We searched through the sediment looking for tiny dinosaur bones and teeth.

We found evidence of very young dinosaurs in the Arctic and even baby bones and teeth from the time before they hatched. And not one dinosaur species, but seven! Both large and small species of dinosaurs lived there all year. These dinosaurs must have been well-adapted to life there. It is possible they hibernated or fasted to survive the harsh winter.