This High Arctic rhino may change what we know about ancient animal migrations

This High Arctic rhino may change what we know about ancient animal migrations

Aru Nair

December 04, 2025 / 3:00 am

Researchers from the Canadian Museum of Nature (CMN) have identified a new species of rhino that once roamed Canada's High Arctic 23 million years ago.

The extinct rhinoceros, described in the journal Nature Ecology & Evolution , is the northernmost rhino known to have ever walked the planet — and it's already reshaping scientists' understanding of when many ancient animals spread across the continents.

While there are only five rhino species alive today, the fossil record suggests that in the past, well over 50 species may have walked the Earth. Back then, rhinoceroses occupied not just Asia and Africa, but also Europe and North America — and they came in all shapes