Duck-billed dinosaurs roamed the Arctic in herds
Young and old hadrosaurs lived together, track site in Alaska suggests
By Meghan Rosen
Duck-billed dinosaurs were the wildebeests of the ancient Arctic.
Around 70 million years ago, during the Late Cretaceous, the plant-eating reptiles probably lived in multigenerational herds — just like modern grazers, a dinosaur track site in Alaska suggests.
The tracks, a jumbled bunch of large and small footprints, are the first solid sign that duck-billed dinos, or hadrosaurs, settled together year-round in the polar region, which at the time probably had a climate similar to the modern Pacific Northwest’s. The animals “weren’t just accidental tourists in this area,” says Anthony Fiorillo. “They were thriving.”