Canadian scientists describe an extinct rhino species from Canada’s High Arctic

OTTAWA, Ontario, Oct. 28, 2025 — Scientists from the Canadian Museum of Nature have announced the discovery and description of an extinct rhinoceros from the Canadian High Arctic. The nearly complete fossil skeleton of the new species was recovered from the fossil-rich lake deposits in Haughton Crater on Devon Island, Nunavut and is the most northerly rhino species known. Rhinoceroses have an evolutionary history that spanned over 40 million years, encompassing all continents except South America and Antarctica. The “Arctic rhino” lived about 23 million years ago, during the Early Miocene and is most closely related to other rhino species that thrived in Europe millions of years earlier. The scientific paper describing this new species, named Epiatheracerium itjilik [eet-jee-look], was published today in the journal Nature Ecology and Evolution. “Today…

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