Did You Know? Strange, Fluffy Dinosaurs Used To Live In Antarctica

Artwork by Incrediville

It was bloody cold over there.
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🎨 by @incrediville

🌞 From about 100 million years ago in the Cretaceous age, the south pole was ruled by these guys. (Remember Earth was covered by one huge continent back then too?)

⛄ Well, it was pretty chilly given the average temp falls around 4~5° Celsius. And sometimes, it even plunges to -20° during winter without sunlight. But even under extreme weather like this, scientists discovered dinosaur fossils in the south pole, proving their existence at the globe’s tip. Nanuqsaurus, which means “polar bear lizard,” might have been running around in white feathers for warmth and camouflage.

🐉 This finding has also overthrown the suggestion that dinosaurs are cold-blooded because it’s unlikely that any cold-blooded animal could survive in the ice. (So far, research suggests that dinosaurs are somewhat between a cold and warm-blooded animal.) They’re even fluffier than you’d think.

Image credit: @lindseywakefieldart

SOURCES:

There used to be fluffy dinosaurs at the South Pole

The Strange Lives of Polar Dinosaurs

In a first, fossil dinosaur feathers found near the South Pole