New Alaskan Dinosaur Discovery

Each field season, the BLM issues paleontological resources use permits for survey and limited surface collection or excavation to qualified paleontologists and researchers for paleontological research on public lands. Along the Colville River’s ancient sediments in the Liscomb Bone Bed, about 300 miles northwest of Fairbanks and 100 miles south of the Arctic Ocean, lies a trove of fossils.

This is where researchers discovered the fossilized bones of the “ancient grazer,” Ungrunaaluk kuukpikensis (oo-GREW-naluck KOOK-pik-en-sis), Alaska’s newest hydrosaur and the fourth species unique to northern Alaska. These herbivorous polar dinosaurs likely roamed in herds and used their hundreds of grinding