According to a report published in ActaPalaeontologicaPolonica, a new dinosaur species has been spotted in the northern reaches of Alaska. The animal is a kind of hadrosaur, a type of duck-billed dinosaur that used to roam in herds.

The species has been named Ugrunaalukkuukpikensis, meaning 'ancient grazer of the Colville River' in the native Inupiaq language. Researchers have recovered the fossils from 69-million-year-old rock deposits.

The Seattle Times has reported that northern Alaska is icy today but it was once used to be covered by forest and was much warmer as compared to it is today. Although, the temperatures were probably higher, Ugrunaaluk stayed in darkness for months. Besides, they might also have experienced snow.

Patrick Druckenmiller, a vertebrate paleontologist at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, told The Los Angeles Times, "It was probably comparable to what you would find in Juneau, Alaska, down in the panhandle of the state. It wasn't a warm winter, but it was much warmer than it is today".

For the last 25 years, the fossils of the new species had been lumped in with another hadrosaur (Edmontosaurus).In many parts of Canada and United States,Edmontosaurus are well known which resulted into confusion. The differences were hard to find because the fossils on record were also from juveniles.

As a whole, the differences discovered in both the skull and mouth, are what resulted into conclusion thatUgrunaalukare a different species. Thedifferences were figured out by plotting growth trajectories and then by done comparison with juvenile Edmontosourus bones.