HOME | DD

Description

Ugrunaaluk kuukpikensis
Named by Hirotsugu Mori, Patrick Druckenmiller, and Gregory Erickson, 2015
Diet: Herbivore (Grazer and mid browser; ferns, flowering plants, and horsetails)
Type: Ornithopod Hadrosaurid (Saurolophinae) dinosaur
Size: Roughly about 30 feet (9 meters) long, but may be even larger as the only specimens of it were mostly juveniles
Region: North America (Northern Alaska USA)
Age: Late Cretaceous (70.6 to 69.1 million BC; Early Maastrichtian)
Enemies: While the adults probably had none, the young are softer targets to predators such as the tyrannosaurid Nanuqsaurus and maniraptors “Troodon” and Dromaeosaurus (Some of the remains of juvenile Ugrunaaluk show evidence of teeth marks made by "Troodon")
Episode: Walking with Dinosaurs the 3D Movie (as Edmontosaurus)
Info: Discovered in the 1980's in the Liscomb Beds (after geologist Robert Liscomb who found the first Alaskan dinosaur remains in 1961, while mapping for Shell Oil Co.) along the Colville River in the North Slope of Alaska (Prince Creek Formation) and long considered to be an Edmontosaurus species since the 1990's until it got its own genus in 2015, the duck-billed hadrosaur, Ugrunaaluk, was one of the many dinosaur species to be found living in higher latitudes and it shows how diverse and successful they were in the polar regions, surviving and thriving through the most extreme cold environments where no reptiles such as lizards, turtles, and crocodiles could survive in. Living more than 69 million years ago during the Late Cretaceous period (Maastrichtian) in the dense forests of what is now Northern Alaska which was 350 miles closer to the North Pole than it is today with 6 wintery months of total darkness, below freezing temperatures, and heavy snow, Ugrunaaluk was, like other hadrosaurs, a herbivore that grazed in herds (the Liscomb Bonebed contains many individual remains of mostly juveniles that died together) with batteries of hundreds of grinding teeth, while a study of bone microstructure show that these dinosaurs remained in the Arctic region year round, enduring the long, dark winter months, but how they survived these harsh, tough times of frigid temperatures and less food remains a mystery.

Note: Based on a combination of both cdn.sci-news.com/images/enlarg… and www.prehistoric-wildlife.com/i… . Coloration based on the Alaskan edmontosaur from BBC's Planet Dinosaur

Now just because a dinosaur living in the Arctic region of freezing cold winters, doesn't mean that they should all be feathered and change color and appearance depending on the season. So originally I was gonna have it feathered, but many preferred to have blubber like a penguin, which would make since there is no evidence that hadrosaurs were feathered and we mostly found mummified remains with preserved skin impressions (some people say the Alaskan pachyrhinosaur I made earlier should be blubbered).

Requested by

Walking with Dinosaurs is owned by BBC

Description

Ugrunaaluk kuukpikensis
Named by Hirotsugu Mori, Patrick Druckenmiller, and Gregory Erickson, 2015
Diet: Herbivore (Grazer and mid browser; ferns, flowering plants, and horsetails)
Type: Ornithopod Hadrosaurid (Saurolophinae) dinosaur
Size: Roughly about 30 feet (9 meters) long, but may be even larger as the only specimens of it were mostly juveniles
Region: North America (Northern Alaska USA)
Age: Late Cretaceous (70.6 to 69.1 million BC; Early Maastrichtian)
Enemies: While the adults probably had none, the young are softer targets to predators such as the tyrannosaurid Nanuqsaurus and maniraptors “Troodon” and Dromaeosaurus (Some of the remains of juvenile Ugrunaaluk show evidence of teeth marks made by "Troodon")
Episode: Walking with Dinosaurs the 3D Movie (as Edmontosaurus)
Info: Discovered in the 1980's in the Liscomb Beds (after geologist Robert Liscomb who found the first Alaskan dinosaur remains in 1961, while mapping for Shell Oil Co.) along the Colville River in the North Slope of Alaska (Prince Creek Formation) and long considered to be an Edmontosaurus species since the 1990's until it got its own genus in 2015, the duck-billed hadrosaur, Ugrunaaluk, was one of the many dinosaur species to be found living in higher latitudes and it shows how diverse and successful they were in the polar regions, surviving and thriving through the most extreme cold environments where no reptiles such as lizards, turtles, and crocodiles could survive in. Living more than 69 million years ago during the Late Cretaceous period (Maastrichtian) in the dense forests of what is now Northern Alaska which was 350 miles closer to the North Pole than it is today with 6 wintery months of total darkness, below freezing temperatures, and heavy snow, Ugrunaaluk was, like other hadrosaurs, a herbivore that grazed in herds (the Liscomb Bonebed contains many individual remains of mostly juveniles that died together) with batteries of hundreds of grinding teeth, while a study of bone microstructure show that these dinosaurs remained in the Arctic region year round, enduring the long, dark winter months, but how they survived these harsh, tough times of frigid temperatures and less food remains a mystery.

Note: Based on a combination of both cdn.sci-news.com/images/enlarg… and www.prehistoric-wildlife.com/i… . Coloration based on the Alaskan edmontosaur from BBC's Planet Dinosaur

Now just because a dinosaur living in the Arctic region of freezing cold winters, doesn't mean that they should all be feathered and change color and appearance depending on the season. So originally I was gonna have it feathered, but many preferred to have blubber like a penguin, which would make since there is no evidence that hadrosaurs were feathered and we mostly found mummified remains with preserved skin impressions (some people say the Alaskan pachyrhinosaur I made earlier should be blubbered).

Requested by

Walking with Dinosaurs is owned by BBC