Scientists discover rhino that lived in Arctic 23 million years ago

By Stephen Beech

An extinct species of rhino that lived inside the Arctic Circle 23 million years ago has been discovered.

The nearly complete fossilized skeleton was recovered from the fossil-rich lake deposits in Haughton Crater on Devon Island, Nunavut, in the Canadian High Arctic.

It is the most northerly rhinoceros species known.

Rhinos have an evolutionary history that spans over 40 million years, encompassing all continents except South America and Antarctica.

Scientists say the “Arctic rhino” lived about 23 million years ago, during the Early Miocene period and is most closely related to other rhino species that thrived in Europe millions of years earlier.

The discovery of the new species, named Epiatheracerium itjilik, was described in the journal Nature Ecology and Evol