Polar Dinosaurs: Australia to Alaska

One hundred million years ago, southern Australia was connected to Antarctica near the South Pole, so the climate there was very different than it is today. To survive the long and cold winters, animals would either have to brave the local climate or migrate north to escape the harsh environment. Migrating took a lot of energy and it was not an option for small dinosaurs.

So how did the dinosaurs survive the frigid winters? That question is what Dr. Anthony Martin, a paleontologist, geologist, artist and professor in the Department of Environmental Studies at Emory University, has tried to answer.

By studying trace evidence, he and others have discovered that small dinosaurs most likely created burrows under the ice where they spent the winter. Dr. Martin has studied trace fossils from a period covering more than 500 million years, including those as varied as plant-root traces, trilobite burrows, insect cocoons, and dinosaur tracks. Among his recent fossil finds are: co-discovering and naming the only known burrowing dinosaur from the fossil record; documenting the oldest known fossil crayfish from the Southern Hemisphere; and finding the largest assemblage of polar dinosaur tracks in the Southern Hemisphere.

Dr. Martin is the author of several books. His upcoming book, Life Traces of the Georgia Coast, is about traces made by modern animals on the Georgia barrier islands and how these can be applied to interpreting the fossil record. The book includes many of his original illustrations.

Don’t miss this “Tuesday Night Special“ engagement at the Museum of Arts and Sciences, when Dr. Martin will speak about his research, findings, travels, discoveries, and more!