Ugrunaaluk is a likely dubious genus of arctic hadrosaurid closely related to Edmontosaurus. In Prehistoric Kingdom it is an alternate genus based off of Edmontosaurus, and was present at the game's Alpha release alongside it.
In-Game[]
Description[]
Ugrunaaluk trails from far farther North than its cousin Edmontosaurus, having lived in the boreal environments of Alaska alongside Pachyrhinosaurus perotorum. Ugrunaaluk differs from Edmontosaurus thanks to its shorter snout and smaller size, in addition to its coal-grey/black body with little patterning.
Management[]
Ugrunaaluk will feel at home in exhibits with temperate, coastal and boreal flora just as its chilly skin name suggests. It has less crowding tolerance than Edmontosaurus at 50%. Due to its smaller size, this animal has a 3 star rating.
In-Game Trivia[]
Nigel Marven
Nigel Marven
Paleontology[]
Ugrunaaluk, the "Ancient Grazer", was named in 2015 by Hirotsugu Mori, Patrick S. Druckenmiller, and Gregory M. Erickson, and hails from the Liscomb Bonebed of the Prince Creek Formation. Prior to its naming thousands of individual bones of this animal had been found at the site, however their identity has long been obscured by the immature nature of a majority of the specimens. The 2015 study that named Ugrunaaluk claimed to have found distinguishing characteristics which recovered the Alaskan hadrosaur as a sister genera to both species of Edmontosaurus, however later studies such as those by Henry Sharpe, Mark Powers, and coauthors in early 2024 would recover Ugrunaaluk as an indeterminate member of the genus Edmontosaurus. Their study found that remains assigned to young Edmontosaurus regalis further south bore similar characteristics to the skulls assigned to the new northern genus.
Paleoecology[]
While the taxonomy of "Ugrunaaluk" may suggest that was just another Edmontosaurus, the populations that lived in the harsh environments of Prince Creek would have lived very different lives than their compatriots to the south. These hardy animals seem to have lived in their northern ranges year-round, as evidenced by the numerous young individuals of many dinosaur species in this formation. This meant that these hadrosaurs would have had to contend with months of darkness and still find enough plant matter to support themselves while also having to coexist with other large and hungry herbivores such as Pachyrhinosaurus. In addition to the cold and darkness they also would have had to contend with predators such as dromaeosaurs and large troodontids when they were young, and the tyrannosaur Nanuqsaurus as adults. Regardless of what name they possess, these duckbilled dinosaurs were truly remarkable animals for braving and thriving in environments considered to be inhospitable to dinosaurs by many.
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- For much of development, Ugrunaaluk was the official plan for the Artic skin of Edmontosaurus, but was later changed to be Edmontosaurus kuukpikensis. This has since been reverted in favor of the name Ugrunaaluk despite it being deemed an invalid genus by many paleontologists, similarly to Saurophaganax.
- Ugrunaaluk received changes to its model in the same update as Tarbosaurus, bringing its skull more in line with the known fossils of the animal.
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