Each year, hundreds of bird species migrate to the Arctic to nest and raise their young, benefitting from seasonally abundant food resources and up to six months of continuous summer daylight. They are essential members of their ecosystems, aiding in crucial tasks like pollination and seed dispersal and insect and small mammal population control. But work by paleontologists at the University of Alaska Fairbanks has made the surprising revelation that this behavior isn’t new- birds and non-avian dinosaurs have been nesting in Alaska for nearly 73 million years! Fossils from Alaska’s North Slope represent one of the best collections of baby dinosaur material in the world and research has revealed that they wouldn’t be old enough to migrate to lower latitudes before winter, so they endured months of frigid temperatures, snowfall, and continuous winter darkness. The birds and their hatchlings may have been able to fly in time, but it still would have been no easy feat to migrate to more equable conditions mere months after hatching. And just as it wouldn’t have been easy to be a dinosaur or bird living in this Cretaceous ecosystem, it isn’t easy for us to collect their fossils either! In the summer, we are faced with cold and rainy days, mud, and mosquitoes. In the winter, we deal with deep snow, temperatures down to -50 degrees Fahrenheit, and limited daylight. It’s worth it though, as polar dinosaur fossils are some of the rarest on the planet and are challenging our perception of dinosaur physiology and behavior by providing new and exciting insights into ancient Arctic ecosystems.

Join us for an event reception at 6-6:30 pm.

Support for Bruce Presents is generously provided by Berkley One, a Berkley Company.

Space is limited. Online registration required.