A much smaller relative of the Tyrannosaurus rex appears to have lived as far north as the Article Circle. The dinosaur discovery was given the name Nanuqsaurus hoglundi, after the Inupiat word for polar bear.
The fossils, first discovered in 2006, in North Slope, Alaska, included skull and jaw fragments. N. hoglundi's skull measured about 25 inches, whereas the skull of the T. rex measured 60 inches. As for body size from nose to tail, the N. hoglundi was only about 22 feet long. Its southern relatives were usually 39 feet long.
See also: Newly Discovered Dinosaur Species Ran the Show Before T. Rex

Image: PLoS ONE Anthony R. Fiorillo and Ronald S. Tykoski

While the current Arctic is an inhospitable environment, 70 million years ago it would have had weather not unlike Seattle's. Yet this discovery still indicates that the N. hoglundi had a smaller body size to cope with the limits of its environment — namely, food sources.
The researchers also believe it had a strong sense of smell and sharp vision to find its prey in the Polar region — a place that still would have been dark for more than half the year.
"To us that is a really cool thing because it is telling us, we think, that there is something about the Arctic environment of 70 million years ago that selected for an optimal body size for a successful predator,” said Anthony Fiorillo, a palaeontologist at the Perot Museum of Nature and Science in Texas and one of the lead researchers of this study, to the AFP.
While half of the dinosaur’s skull fragment was found in 2006, Fiorillo and his team recently discovered the other half. The findings were published on Wednesday in the scientific journal PLoS ONE.
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