ExtinctZoo - The North Pole Had Its Very Own ‘T. Rex’

Episode Date: November 17, 2024

Santa Claus had some competition during the Late Cretaceous...

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to have ever walked the world was lumbering about, the Tyrannosaurus rex. Between its 10-ton-plus stature, gobsmacking bite force, and keen senses, This was the last predator you'd want to be around during those times. And considering that its eyesight may have been 13 times better than our own, this was one problem that was hard to avoid. Therefore, if you ever find yourself waking up in late Cretaceous North America, your first priority should be getting the heck out of there. But the question is, to where?

Obviously, any body of water is off the table. And going to the south would only end up with you running into the ablestords, the nasty group of theropods within their own rights. meaning that perhaps your best choice is to venture north, where it is also colder, which hopefully means less scary dinosaurs. And yet, if you actually traveled far enough north to the literal arctics, you would not only have just failed to avoid running into a theropod, but that theropod would have also been a literal tyrannosaur, just like the T-Rex. Because why not? This was the late Cretaceous, after all. And despite not being as well known as its southern relative, this tyranosaur

had quite the fierce reputation of its own, and ruled the North Pole with a firm grip, or rather bite. This was the Nanooksaurus. The fact that we even know about this polar Tyrannosaur is a miracle in itself, as it was discovered in one of the most remote places on earth, the Prince Creek Formation in Alaska, which is located hundreds of miles or kilometers from any city. It was here that in 2006, paleontologists stumbled upon fragments of a theropod skull that included a right maxilla, a skull roof, and left entry. The shape of these partial remains clearly matched a type of dinosaur they were familiar with, but one they did not expect to find in the North Pole, a Tyrannosaur.

And its skull was so similar to other Tyrannosaurs that they first believed they had found not a new dinosaur, but rather an already described genera, with their best guess being that it was either an Albertosaurus, Daspletosaurus, or Gorgasaurus. And despite not being as much of a bombshell as a new genus, the implications of this discovery was still huge, as these remains represented the most northern Tyrannosaur ever found, implying that this family of tyrants were much more resilient to climate than once thought, and held a larger dominion than believed possible. However, a few years later, when preparing the holotype for analysis, scientists realized that this creature was in reality

much more different than first perceived, so much so that paleontologists deduced that it wasn't just a new species, but an entirely new genus that due to its homeland was fittingly named Nanooksaurus, meaning the polar bear lizard. A brand new Arctic Tyrannosaur is crazy news enough, but the debut of this creature was met with even more attention, as it generated many questions about its relation to other Tyrannosaurs, namely the king itself, the T-Rex, since studies based on its morphology found it to be extremely related, perhaps even being the second most closely related North American theropod to the T-Rex behind the despelatesaurus, and thus resulting in it being placed within the Tyrannosaur in a subfamily, which are characterized by their relatively heavy builds and

larger bulky heads. Its classification also brought up another perplexing question of where exactly this creature came from, a mystery that is yet to be conclusively answered. For now, the two main ideas floating around is that it is either a descendant of a North American Tyrannosaur who remigrated all the way to the North Pole, or that it hails from an Asian Tyrannosaur which crossed the Bering Strait, yet never bothered heading south. And this latter idea has garnered some more support just this year, thanks to the newly discovered Asia Tyrannus, a small deer-sized Tyrannosaur from China, whose skull was extremely similar to that scene in the Nanooksaurus, leading some to speculate that it directly gave way to this northern tyrant. Although this is not decisively confirmed,

because while the Asia Tyrannus surely appears to be its smaller lookalike, the Nanexaurus is still quite comparable to its southern relative, and like the T-Rex is shared an S-shaped neck, reduced arms, a thick, wide skull, and a fuller build, as opposed to the more streamlined bodies seen in the Alberta Sorinay. Where it differed, though, was its comparatively smaller size, more deeply set narrow teeth, and more pronounced bony ridges above its size. On top of this, the Nanoxoros also had some unique traits

that are so far only known to it, including frontals with a long-pointed process which separates its prefrontal from the lacrimal, a thin median spur of its parietals, and its first two teeth being much smaller than those directly behind it. In addition, having lived in the North Pole, there is also the chance that this theropod differ from the T-Rex in that it was fully feathered, in order to help survive the dark cold winters that it endured. However, as of now, no direct evidence for feathers has ever been found. With the current best evidence for the this actually coming out of Asia, where paleontologists unearthed the U. Tyrannis, another close relative that lived in a similar environment, and had

extensive feathering, which indicates that this lineage of theropods could actually be fully feathered as adults. Moreover, there is a belief that if it was fully feathered, it could have been lighter in color to help blend in with the snowy environment, which if was the case, would give it an almost polar bear likeness, especially from a far or in a blizzard. But there would be no confusing this creature, as the an anachsaurus was much larger than a polar bear, despite not being exactly rexized. Originally, based off of the holotype, it was believed that the nanosaurus was a medium-to-large-sized theropod

that grew up to six meters or 20 feet in length, while weighing almost one ton, making it one of the largest Arctic land predators to have ever lived, but not one of the biggest Tyrannosaurs, being more comparable in measurements to the largest seratosaurus. However, in a rare instance for paleontology, it turns out that the nanoceros was likely much larger than first thought, possibly 300% larger, as the most recent studies found that it was more equal in size to the

Albertosaurus, not serratosaurus, which if true meant that this polar giant clocked in it around three tons and measured up to 9 meters or 30 feet in length, making it by far the biggest carnivore in the Arctic at the time, and even granting it the title as the largest terrestrial predator to have ever lived in a polar region. But hold your horses though, because this was not the end of it. Because more generous paleontologists think that it could have gotten even bigger in extreme cases, measuring over 10 meters or 35 feet, and thus putting it on par with the largest known esplatosaurus specimens. And if this part holds up, then it gives the nanosaurus one of the greatest comebacks in paleontology history, going from just a medium-sized Tyrannosaur to one

of the largest ever. And with this size, the polar lizard would have been able to hunt literally every other dinosaur in its environment, a plight for its victims, no doubt, which is only exacerbated by the presence of the crown jewel seen in all Tyrannosaurus. And that is a devastating bite. Like all its family members, the Nanxaurus was well equipped with a proportionally giant and absurdly robust head, that in life was roped with large amounts of muscles, granting it immense power. Although its situation was a bit unique, since it shared more relation with the bulkier

members of its family, meaning that the skull wasn't just long, but exceptionally wide too. And to add insult to injury, of all the body parts that were given size increases over the years, it is the head that has seen the biggest bump in mass, which implies an impressive bite force even amongst heranosaurus. Sadly, though, due to the scarcity of it remains, no detailed study on its bite has been carried out, forcing paleontologists to guess it off of similar-sized heranosaurids, such as gorgasaurus, despletosaurus, and the albertosaurus. This isn't necessarily helpful, though, as across the board, bite estimates, for these guys ranged from 10,000 newtons, all the way to a staggering 40,000

neutrons, for the gorgasaurus, 2.5 times more powerful than the bite of crocodile. The only real takeaway here is that whatever the number, it could definitely pack a punch. And given the design of the skull, it's likely that it killed its prey by first crunching down on enormous amounts of tissue and bone that would have essentially exploded upon contact from the sheer force alone. And as if this wasn't damaging enough, the attacking nanosaurus would then proceed to eviscerate everything as it pulled and ripped away, creating catastrophic gaping wounds that would have kind of been like if someone had taken a magic eraser and straight up erased an entire section of your body.

And of course, the deadliness of this bite was further amplified by the teeth, because while they were smaller than those seen in the wrecks, they were still by normal standards gargantuan and designed to destroy, with the largest teeth growing over four inches or 10 centimeters in height, while also possessing curves to ensure that bitten prey were hooked and fine serrations so that each bite could get through multiple layers of flesh without significant resistance. Equipped with such a weapon, the nanoceros was surely able to kill, or at least fatally wound,

even the largest animals around with a single well-placed bite. And based on what other animals have been found in its environment, its diet likely consisted of various hadrosaurs and serotopsids. However, of all the creatures it lived with, it's most often portrayed having hunted the Pachy rhinosaurus, and it's quite common for mainstream media to depict a Pachy Rhino being hunted down by usually multiple nanx sources, and thus implying that it was a highly gregarious creature.

And yet, there is no direct evidence for it having lived or hunted in packs, with the misconception perhaps coming from the outdated smaller size estimates. Although some paleontologists do think it may have preferred to stick with others of its own kind, simply based on its harsh environment, as living in a pack would have made hunting easier, and in theory, allowed them to huddle together for much-needed warmth. There's also the added belief that pack life would have helped the youngsters survive in such an unforgiving world. Although sadly for it, it seems that whatever tactic it chose, many juveniles and newborns still did not make it. A somber reality reflected by the nanx source, having one of the highest rates of juvenile specimens seen in any dinosaurs.

And what's crazy is that so far, no fully matured individual has ever been found. found, meaning that it lived in one brutal environment where only the tough has survived. But what's kind of ironic is that it seems that this suffering was in some ways voluntary, because due to the high number of younglings discovered, paleontologists realized that instead of migrating southwards to warmer climates for the winter, they instead chose to stay in the grim arctics for the entire year, a bold choice as these polar regions never really got too friendly, at least by our standards, as during the summer it never got past an average of 10 degrees Celsius or 50 degrees Fahrenheit, making it even colder than Anchorage.

While in the winter, temperatures plummeted to an average of minus 3 degrees Celsius or 26 Fahrenheit, comparable to certain freezers. But crazily enough, it wasn't the cold that was the true kicker, but rather the constant darkness, with studies finding that during the winter months, the nanix source may have experienced up to 120 days of near constant darkness, freezing temperatures, and frequent blizzards. Such hardship is yet a another reason why, something that there is no way, that this theropod got by without being fully feathered. And the harsh winter also led to this separate belief, which theorizes that it would have needed powerful senses compared to its relatives in order to successfully

hunt during the winter. In particular, it's thought that its eyesight and sense of smell were highly refined, allowing it to track down prey through the thickest of storms and darkest of days. Its smelling capabilities especially have interested paleontologists. As from what little skull remains we have, it appears that its nasal region was extremely powerful, possibly even outclassing the sense of smell seen in the T-Rex. A crazy notion considering that the tyrant king has been said to already rival the smelling prowess of bloodhounds. And armed with such a powerful nose, the Nanxaurus would have been able to detect carry-on kilometers away by smell alone, even if the cold reduced the scent, and even if the wind was blowing the wrong way.

An additional possible adaptation that may have arisen from the cold was its legs and feet, because as these Arctic lands received heavy snowfall, it's not a stretch to imagine that this theropod evolved some way to help it seamlessly traverse through heavy snow, and perhaps stand on ice without breaking it. And again, while no leg or foot material has yet to be found to verify this hypothesis, a handful of scientists do think that specialized feet to better conserve heat, unique-formed digits, and powerful legs were all potential possibilities to help. would make the most of its winter wonderland, so to speak. But despite the winter, definitely

being quite depressive, things weren't always so gloom and doom, even if it is the Arctic's we're talking about. As to balance out the long winters, the dinosaur Prince Creek got to enjoy extended summers, which while not exactly being warm, were calm and sunny, with its own period of constant daylight as well. This summer season seems like the winter to have had a major impact on how things worked for the nanox source, as egg laying was concentrated towards the start of the summer, and instead of seems to have been impacted by the migratory patterns seen in other animals, who unlike the nanosaurus did not choose to stick around all year. What's really interesting about this is that in addition to staying in the Arctic's permanently, the nanosaurus was the only

animal to have a ubiquitous distribution across the entire Prince Creek formation. In most cases, animals typically show a preference for a specific area. For example, the Edmontosaurus niched in coastal lowlands, while the pack of rhinoceros stuck to the upland environments. And thus, the fact that the nanosaurus popped up everywhere and then also thrived, demonstrates just how much of a menace this Tyrannosaur was, and that this family of theropods could evolve to take over virtually any biome. Its extended range was probably a good thing for it as well, as amend a greater access to coexisting animals,

which actually included a startling amount of dinosaurs, such as the Dromaeasaurus, Grewipida, Sorenithelestes, Alaska Cephali, Pachyrinosaurus, and Montosaurus, an unidentified lambasaurine, ornithopata, leptoceratopsidae, Thesilasaurane, and Ornithamimisori. What perhaps even more surprising than the generous amounts of dinosaurs that managed to survive here was the sheer variety of non-dinosaurs that also called these tundras home, as the simulodon, gypsonicotops, marsupialia, Sikuomis, and over 60 kinds of trees could be found here.

In fact, the only group that really seemed to be absent from the synodonics, environment were ectotherms, in other words, cold-blooded animals, such as snakes, crocs, amphibians, turtles, and other reptiles who cannot generate their own internal heat, and thus must rely on external sources, making the polar region not the most ideal place. In a typical domineering fashion, of all the animals that I just talked about, the nanosaurus was among the largest, only being rivaled by the Pachyroinosaurus and Edmontosaurus, while taking the crown of biggest predator by far, with the closest competitor being roughly 140 times smaller. And that's when giving it the Saur Nithelestes, the benefit of the doubt. As on average, all other predators besides Nannic

source experienced varying degrees of dwarfism in these parts, usually only attaining half the size of their southern counterparts. And this is pretty unusual, as it goes against the trend of animals normally getting bigger in the cold, and thus leading paleontologists to assume that it was a result of a lack of food, perhaps caused by the high number of small predators. Meanwhile, the Nanxorus, with its skewed size, was the only one capable of specializing big game, and thus meaning no competition, and therefore no dwarfism. And with size and power on its side, the Nanaxorus was of course the top predator in its environment, and reigns supreme for its entire existence, which seems to have taken place

between 70 and 68 million years ago, meaning that it actually never got to see the end of the Cretaceous, perhaps for the best. This somewhat short-sounding rule is potentially the result of of living in a harsh environment, which had extreme variability. Or it could have been the result of something much more mysterious, still undiscovered by paleontology. Whatever the case, we can only hope that over time, additional nanix-source specimens are located so that we get to learn more about the only polar Tyrannosaurus sword.

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