Nanuqsaurus

## NanuqsaurusPolar Bear Lizard

* Adult
* Juveniles

 **Main** Segments Gallery

MainSegmentsGallery

***“ Nanuqsaurus, a smaller relative of T. rex, it's still just big enough to tackle a Pachyrhinosaur. ”***

― **David Attenborough**, *Ice Worlds*
***Nanuqsaurus*** (Polar Bear Lizard, named after the Iñupiaq word for polar bear) is a genus of medium-sized tyrannosaurid theropod dinosaur that served as the apex predator of the Prince Creek Formation, Alaska, USA, 71 - 69 million years ago, during the Maastrichtian stage of the Late Cretaceous Period.

## Paleobiology

### Size and Physique

While Prehistoric Planet was being made, *Nanuqsaurus* was believed to be a tyrannosaur that shrunk in order to adapt to the colder temperatures of the Arctic circle. Hence, they were depicted as predators that are 5 - 6 meters (16 - 20 feet) long, with dark, shaggy coats of feathers to give them the appearance of grey wolves. In 2021, a study regarding the animal's remains disputed this idea, suggesting that *Nanuqsaurus* was actually standard in terms of tyrannosaur size, reaching 8 - 9 meters long like *Albertosaurus*, though this study came too late for the show to adjust their depiction *Nanuqsaurus* accordingly.

### Feathers

For tyrannosauroids, feathers appear to be a trait exhibited by basal tyrannosauroids like the 9-meter (30-foot) proceratosaurid *Yutyrannus huali* (the largest feathered animal known so far), with no evidence indicating their presence on later members of the group like *Nanuqsaurus* and *T. rex*. However, given how *Nanuqsaurus* is around the same size as *Yutyrannus* and also lived in a cold, northern region, the presence of feathers on it may be more plausible than it first appears to be.

### Prehistoric Planet's Depiction

*Main: *Nanuqsaurus* on Prehistoric Planet*

Main: *Nanuqsaurus* on Prehistoric Planet

As with the other tyrannosaurs featured on Prehistoric Planet, *Nanuqsaurus* bears stripes on its snout, and it's been theorized that this is a trait that they all inherited from their last common ancestor. While there is no confirmation of this being the case, Dr. Darren Naish, Prehistoric Planet's lead consultant, shared this fan theory, indicating a degree of support and plausibility for the idea.

Despite being incorrectly sized on the show, Prehistoric Planet still introduces and depicts *Nanuqsaurus* as "the Arctic's most powerful predator", given how the only other theropods found in the Prince Creek Formation were dromaeosaurs, troodontids, ornithomimosaurs, and birds that wouldn't have been able to compete even against a subadult *Nanuqsaurus*.

*Nanuqsaurus* appears as the main threat in the sixth and final segment of Ice Worlds, where a pack of three attack a herd of *Pachyrhinosaurus*. Though the ceratopsians initially stand their ground and form a defensive circle against the tyrannosaurs, the herd eventually panics, allowing the predators to bring down an old male. *Nanuqsaurus* also appears in the fifth and final segment of North America, where a female tries to hunt *Ornithomimus*, pursuing an entire flock in hopes of catching one. Though she fails the first time, she eventually succeeds and shares her fresh kill with her hatchlings.

## Paleoecology

### Paleoenvironment

*Main: Prince Creek Formation*

Main: Prince Creek Formation

***“ Here, within the Arctic Circle, for three months of the year, the sun barely rises. ”***

― **David Attenborough**, *North America*
*Nanuqsaurus*, lived 71 - 69 million years ago in the Prince Creek Formation, a polar woodland that experienced 120 days of winter darkness, with temperatures dropping as low as 2 - 4 degrees Celsius (36 - 39 degrees Fahrenheit) during the cold months.

### Hunting Tactics and Feeding Preferences

***“ The herd should be safe as long as they stick together. But the Nanuqsaurs bide their time, and occasionally test for weakness. ”***

― **David Attenborough**, *Ice Worlds*
On Prehistoric Planet, *Nanuqsaurus* appears to exhibit different hunting preferences depending on the time.

Just before winter, *Nanuqsaurus* is depicted as a pack hunter, willing to take on two-tonne animals together. Just when winter ends, however, *Nanuqsaurus* is depicted hunting alone, taking on smaller but faster prey. This may reflect the need to gain as much food and energy as possible before and during winter, when food is much harder to come by, and the need for food that can be taken down more quickly, for immediately ending hunger, even with smaller prey, is more important than playing out a longer strategy to take down prey that can stave off hunger for longer periods of time. In both scenarios, *Nanuqsaurus* is shown foregoing the more appealing strategy of ambush (especially out in the open, where there is no cover to hide behind) in favor of forcing their prey on the defensive, then waiting for panic to eventually take hold and reveal the weakest, most ideal target.

Despite being depicted at two-thirds of its actual length in the sixth segment of Ice Worlds (which can be justified by the idea that the three *Nanuqsaurus* may be adolescents), there is evidence that even young tyrannosaurs are capable of attacking fully-grown ceratopsians successfully. One of the most significant fossils of any dinosaur is the "Dueling Dinosaurs" specimen of Hell Creek, which preserves an adolescent *T. rex* locked in combat with a *Triceratops horridus*, proving that even adolescent tyrannosaurs are capable of taking down large ceratopsians, a feat that has more chances of success when done by a pack.

### Parental Habits

***“ If her babies are to thrive, she will have to repeat today's success over and over again, until her young are old enough to join her in the hunt, and, eventually fend for themselves, here in this remote - and perhaps the most challenging - frontier of the North American continent, 66 million years ago. ”***

― **David Attenborough**, *North America*
As with some of the theropods on Prehistoric Planet, *Nanuqsaurus* is shown providing parental care to its children. Unlike *T. rex* and *Pectinodon*, where it is the father's responsibility alone, and *Velociraptor*, where both parents raise the children together in a family pack, it is the *Nanuqsaurus* mother alone that cares for the hatchlings, much like *Masiakasaurus* and *Kuru kulla*.

## Gallery

Join us for a story you never heard, on a scale you've never witnessed

**Prehistoric Planet has a gallery for
*Nanuqsaurus***

*Click here to visit it!*

## Trivia

* *Nanuqsaurus* is one of the two animals that appeared in multiple segments shown hunting in all the segments it was featured in. A pack of three hunted *Pachyrhinosaurus* in the sixth segment of Ice Worlds, and one female hunted *Ornithomimus* for her young in the fifth segment of North America. The other is the Mongolian dromaeosaur *Velociraptor*, which hunted and ate a lizard in the second segment of Deserts, ran off with a juvenile azhdarchid to eat it offscreen by the end of the first segment of Freshwater, and engaged in cooperative behavior to hunt down a *Prenocephale* in the second segment of Badlands. Close contenders include:
	+ *Hatzegopteryx*, which ate a juvenile *Zalmoxes* in the seventh segment of Forests and a juvenile *Tethyshadros* in the second segment of Islands, though in its third appearance, it only used a juvenile *Tethyshadros* as a reusable proof of strength, with neither the male nor the female he mated with actually consuming it by the end of the sixth segment of Islands).
	+ If looking for a dead body to scavenge is counted, *Tyrannosaurus rex* (which ate a dead turtle in the first segment of Coasts, ate a *Triceratops* it killed offscreen in the second segment of Freshwater, hunted an *Edmontosaurus* at night in the fifth segment of Swamps, and scavenged a newly-deceased *Alamosaurus* in the first segment of North America).
		- With this, *T. rex* and *Nanuqsaurus* are also the only animals that appeared in multiple segments shown eating in all the segments they appeared in.

## References

1. ↑ Nesting at extreme polar latitudes by non-avian dinosaurs
2. ↑ Black, Riley. Scientists Discover a Gigantic Feathered Tyrannosaur. *Smithsonian Magazine*
3. ↑ Katz, Brigit. 2012. T. Rex Was Likely Covered in Scales, Not Feathers. *Smithsonian Magazine*
4. ↑ Naish, Darren (@TetZoo) (June 19, 2023) on Twitter, sharing the fan theory involving the snout stripes of the tyrannosaurs featured on Prehistoric Planet
5. ↑ 'Dueling Dinosaurs' fossil, hidden from science for 14 years, could finally reveal its secrets
6. ↑ North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences to receive the "Dueling Dinosaurs"