About 23 million years in the past, a rhinoceros stomped throughout the Canadian Excessive Arctic. Now extinct, a crew of scientists from the Canadian Museum of Nature (CMN) have discovered a brand new species of the enigmatic “Arctic rhino.” First uncovered virtually 40 years in the past in lake deposits in Haughton Crater on Devon Island, Nunavut, Epiatheracerium itjilik was extra petite than lots of its trendy descendants. The species is described in a research printed right now within the journal Nature Ecology & Evolution.
“At the moment there are solely 5 species of rhinos in Africa and Asia, however previously they have been present in Europe and North America, with greater than 50 species recognized from the fossil file,” Dr. Danielle Fraser, a research co-author and head of palaeobiology on the Canadian Museum of Nature, stated in a press release. “The addition of this Arctic species to the rhino household tree now affords new insights to our understanding of their evolutionary historical past.”
Large rhinos, small rhinos, and all the things in between
Rhinoceroses have been round for over 40 million years and have been discovered on all continents besides South America and Antarctica. This lately found Arctic rhino lived about 23 million years in the past, in the course of the Early Miocene. It’s most intently associated to different rhino species that thrived in Europe tens of millions of years earlier.
Earth’s Rhinocerotids additionally got here in quite a lot of sizes and styles. Some have been massive and hippo-like, whereas others have been comparatively small and lacked horns. Epiatheracerium itjilik falls in that latter class. It was comparatively small and slight, much like the trendy Indian rhinoceros, however with no horn. The crew believes that the Arctic specimen was in early to mid-adulthood when it died primarily based on reasonable put on of the cheek enamel.
A lot of the bones have been collected on the Haughton Impression Crater website in 1986 by the late arctic paleontologist Dr. Mary Dawson. The Haughton Crater was fashioned by an asteroid or comet strike about 31 to 32 million years in the past in the course of the Early Oligocene. It’s virtually 14 miles throughout and probably the most northern recognized website containing fossils from the Miocene Epoch (about 23 to five.6 million years in the past). Presently, many households of recent mammals started to diversify and transfer between Earth’s continents. When the influence crater full of water a couple of million years after influence, a lake that preserved the stays of native vegetation and animals fashioned.
Dawson had uncovered the essential diagnostic elements of the skeleton—the higher and decrease enamel, mandibles, and elements of the cranium virtually 40 years in the past. With these, the crew from CMN may outline it as a rhinocerotid and a totally new species.
“What’s outstanding concerning the Arctic rhino is that the fossil bones are in glorious situation,” palaeobiologist Marisa Gilbert added. “They’re three dimensionally preserved and have solely been partially changed by minerals. About 75% of the skeleton was found, which is extremely full for a fossil.”
Throughout the late 2000s, Gilbert took half in plenty of analysis journeys to the Haughton Crater with research co-author Dr. Natalia Rybcynski. These expeditions uncovered one other new species, a strolling seal ancestor named Puijila darwini. Further stays of E. itjilik have been discovered on later area expeditions.
Crossing a land bridge
With this new Arctic species, the crew dug deeper into the evolutionary and biogeographic historical past of rhinocerotids. Biogeography research how animals and vegetation advanced and dispersed over time.
To position E. itjilik on the rhino household tree, they studied the incidence of 57 different kinds of rhinocerotids, virtually all of that are extinct. They combed via museum collections, scientific literature, and numerous databases.
The crew’s detective work and evaluation reveals how rhinos dispersed over tens of millions of years. They probably travelled between current day North America and Europe (via Greenland) on the North Atlantic Land Bridge. Earlier research steered that this land bridge could have solely been used as a pathway till about 56 million years in the past. Nonetheless, E. itjilik and its associated species recommend that rhinos moved from Europe to North America way more lately, doubtlessly as late because the Miocene.
“It’s all the time thrilling and informative to explain a brand new species. However there’s extra that comes from the identification of Epiaceratherium itjilik, as our reconstructions of rhino evolution present that the North Atlantic performed a way more vital function of their evolution than beforehand thought,” stated Fraser. “Extra broadly, this research reinforces that the Arctic continues to supply up new data and discoveries that increase on our understanding of mammal diversification over time.”
Honoring the Excessive Arctic
The species title itjilik means “frosty” or “frost” in Inuktitut. To honor the rhino’s dwelling within the Excessive Arctic, the crew consulted with Inuit Elder Jarloo Kiguktak. Kiguktak can also be the previous mayor of Grise Fiord, probably the most northerly Inuit neighborhood in Canada. He has additionally visited the fossil deposits of Haughton Crater and performed a task in a number of paleontological expeditions within the Excessive Arctic.
The fossil of Epiceratherium itjilik is at the moment housed and curated within the fossil collections of the Canadian Museum of Nature.Â
Â
2025 House of the Future Awards
Â
