A Rhino's Arctic Adventure: A Tale of Survival and Evolution

In the icy reaches of the Canadian High Arctic, a surprising discovery was made. A rhinoceros, unlike any seen before, roamed this region 23 million years ago. This rhino, named Epiatheracerium itjilik, was about the size of a modern Indian rhino but lacked a horn. Its fossils were found on Devon Island, a place covered in permafrost, within the Haughton Crater, one of the northernmost impact craters on Earth. This rhino lived during the Miocene epoch, a time when many mammal groups were diversifying. Until this find, no one knew rhinos had ventured so far north. The fossil site is in Nunavut, Canada's northernmost territory. The rhino was around three feet tall at the shoulder, similar in size to the modern Indian rhinoceros but smaller than African rhinos. The climate back then was a mix of warm summers and cold winters with snowfall. It was similar to southern Ontario or northern New York today, but with extreme variations in daylight. How this rhino survived such harsh conditions remains a mystery. Modern mammals dig through snow to find plants, but how this rhino managed is still unknown. The polar rhino fed on leaves from trees and shrubs in a forest that included pines, larch, alder, spruce, and birch. Its narrow muzzle suggests it browsed like modern animals. Given the freezing temperatures, it might have had a fur coat. However, it was not closely related to the woolly rhinoceroses of the last Ice Age. Other fossils from the site include Puijila darwini, an early seal with feet instead of flippers. Rhinos first appeared around 48 million years ago and spread across every continent except South America and Antarctica. Today, only five species remain, but over 50 are known from fossils. This rhino's closest relatives lived in Europe and the Middle East, suggesting its ancestors crossed into North America via a land bridge. This bridge was thought to have disappeared 50 million years ago, but newer studies show it might have been crossable into the Miocene.