"Researchers from the Canadian Museum of Nature (CMN) have identified a new species of rhino that once roamed Canada's High Arctic 23 million years ago. The extinct rhinoceros, described in the journal Nature Ecology & Evolution, is the northernmost rhino known to have ever walked the planet and it's already reshaping scientists' understanding of when many ancient animals spread across the continents."
"That's certainly the case for the newly named rhino now known as Epiatheracerium itjilik. E. itjilik had no horns, was on the smaller side and lived in the dark for months of the year back when this part of the Arctic was likely a temperate forest. Its fossil remains were first discovered in 1986 in Nunavut, Canada. Since then, scientists have managed to recover roughly 75% of the animal's skeleton."
"Fraser and her team set out to analyze the fossil's physical features to learn where it fell on the rhino family tree. After comparing it with other specimens, they found that the animal's closest relatives lived in Europe and Western Asia. This told them that the rhino's ancestors very likely crossed over a strip of land connecting Europe and North America known as the North Atlantic Land Bridge."
A new rhinoceros species, Epiatheracerium itjilik, lived in Canada's High Arctic 23 million years ago. The animal was hornless, relatively small, and endured months of darkness while inhabiting a temperate forest environment. Fossils were first discovered in Nunavut in 1986, and roughly 75% of the skeleton has been recovered, likely preserved by permafrost. Comparative analysis places its closest relatives in Europe and Western Asia, indicating migration across the North Atlantic Land Bridge. The find expands evidence that rhinoceroses were once diverse and inhabited Europe and North America, with many more species existing historically than today.
Read at www.npr.org
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