A new species of plant eating dinosaurs was said to have been excavated in the Alaskan peninsula according to a report published Tuesday, Sept. 22. The dinosaur was said to be a different kind of hardrosaur, which are duck billed dinosaurs that roamed in herds. They named the new found dinosaur, Ugrunaaluk kuukpikensis (oo-GROO'-nah-luk KOOK'-pik-en-sis), which means "ancient grazer."
The new species fossils were found in rocks deposited over 69 to 70 million years ago and might have been clumped with another hardrosaur, the Edmontosaurus for 25 years before being discovered. The scientists were able to give the dinosaur a name with the assistance from the speakers of Inupiaq, the ancient language of the Inupiaq Eskimos in Alaska. They dinosaur measured up to 30 feet long (as big as a minibus) with hundreds of teeth that help them in chewing their plant based food.
Most of the fossils excavated where from the Prince Creek Formation of the Liscomb Bone Bed along the Colville River, around 300 miles northwest of Fairbanks. The excavation area was named after Robert Liscomb, the first one to unearth dinosaur fossils while on a mapping mission for Shell Oil Co. The only way to get to the excavation area is through helicopters and planes, and the colville river as well, which is used like a highway by the scientists.
he scientists also revealed that during the era wherein the ancient grazers roamed Alaska, the weather then was much warmer, 45 degrees, while the winters didn't grow too cold. Conifer trees were thick as well during that era. Scientists said it seemed that the dinosaurs didn't migrate during the winter time and instead devised several ways to survive during the winter. One was that they fattened up and stored fats during the summer for the onslaught of winter. As of now, scientists have dug up over 6,000 of the dinosaurs bones. Share your thoughts with us!
