Baby Dinosaur Fossils Show That Some Dino Families Called the Arctic Home

In what environment did dinosaurs live?

The majority of dinosaurs that have been discovered lived along old rivers or streams. They were mighty animals that required resources in large quantities. They inhabited forests and roamed the forested floodplains, thickly vegetated swamps, and lakes that surrounded them. Some of the dinosaurs also lived in ancient deserts. They adapted to the extreme temperatures and walked on dunes. Dinosaur remains have also been discovered near ancient seashores’ sandy shorelines. Since erosion is more widespread in these ecosystems, sediments representing mountainous settings are rather scarce. As a result, mountain-dwelling dinosaurs are not commonly found.

Thus, dinosaurs lived almost everywhere. They were enormous creatures but were adaptive. Be it the damp, humid forest swamps or the deserts, dinosaurs thrived everywhere on the planet. They migrated from the summer lands to the cold Arctic to escape the heat. They always fought their way to survive.

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What has a recent discovery of dinosaur fossils shown?

A famous science journal called Current Biology published a paper in 2021 that revealed something we never knew about these marvelous creatures that existed millions of years ago. They found fossils of dinosaurs in the Arctic! And these aren’t fossils of adults, but baby dinosaurs. The latest fossils show tiny teeth and bones from seven species of perinatal dinosaurs, a term that describes baby dinosaurs that are either just about to hatch or have just hatched.

Why are these fossils important?

This discovery changes our understanding of the adaptive nature of dinosaurs. The earlier opinion was that dinosaurs lived in environments that were filled with sunlight and forests and lakes. To escape the heat, they would migrate to colder Arctic lands. However, this discovery has changed all these beliefs. Since the fossils found are of baby dinosaurs and others who hadn’t yet hatched, it proves that some dinosaurs called the Arctic their home. If the fossils had belonged to adult dinosaurs, it could still signify that these dinosaurs migrated to the Arctic. However, the presence of pre-hatched eggs and baby dinosaurs signifies that the Arctic was their breeding ground. The scientists determined the dinosaurs lived their entire lives in the Arctic, once they discovered they were nesting there. According to their prior studies, these dinosaurs’ incubation periods span from three to six months. Because Arctic summers are short, the dinosaurs’ children would be too immature to migrate in the fall if they deposited their eggs in the spring. During the Cretaceous period, global temperatures were significantly warmer, but the Arctic winters would have included four months of darkness, cold temperatures, snow, and little new flora for food. However, despite all of this, the children of these dinosaurs were born there, showing that they were local inhabitants of the Arctic.

Read the above paragraph and answer the following questions:

Which environment did dinosaurs live in?

Thick swamps
Forests
Deserts
All of the above

Ans: d

2. What discovery did the scientists recently publish in Current Biology?

Dinosaur fossils in the Arctic
Fossils of baby dinosaurs in the Arctic
Fossils of dinosaurs in Antarctica
Fossils of baby dinosaurs in Antarctica

Ans: b

3. Why is this discovery important?

It shows us that dinosaurs lived in the Arctic, too
It shows us that dinosaurs migrated to the Arctic during summers
It shows that dinosaurs existed everywhere in all environments
It shows that dinosaurs were polar animals

Ans: a

4. How do we know this is true?

Since dinosaur eggs were found in the Arctic
Since we know that dinosaurs migrated
Since the fossils belonged to baby dinosaurs and it wouldn’t be possible for them to migrate back to the forests in the dark, cold Arctic weather
Because researchers said so

Ans: c