Millions of years ago, a pony-sized, hornless rhino wandered through the woods and munched on leaves in what is now northern Nunavut, making it the northern-most rhino ever found.
A new study published on Tuesday identifies it as a new species, and offers an intriguing explanation for how it got there.
Epiatheracerium itjilik was about the size of a modern Indian rhinoceros and far smaller than an African rhino, standing about a metre at the shoulder, said Danielle Fraser, lead author of the new study published in the journal Nature Ecology and Evolution.
Researchers found more than 70 per cent of the animal's skeleton in the Haughton Crater on Devon Island, about 1,000 kilometres north of the Arctic Circle — beating the record for the northern-most rhino previously set by a Yukon specimen.
Overhead view of the fossil of Epiatheracerium itjilik. About 75 per cent of the animal's bones were recovered, including diagnostic parts such as the teeth, mandibles and pieces of the cranium. (Pierre Poirier/Canadian Museum of Nature)
From its skull, teeth and other bones, they were able to learn a lot about i
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