Alaska was likely a ‘superhighway’ millions of years ago. For dinosaurs

Hindustan Times, India: Alaska was possibly the ‘superhighway’ for dinosaurs between Asia and western North America 65-70 million years ago, according to a study. Researchers from the Perot Museum of Nature and Science in the US discovered the first North American co-occurrence of hadrosaur and therizinosaur tracks in the Denali National Park in Alaska, US.
Hadrosaur was an unusual predatory dinosaur thought to have become a herbivore, while as therizinosaurs are best known from Asia.
The study, published in the journal Scientific Reports, suggests that an aspect of the continental ecosystem of central Asia was also present in this part of Alaska during the Late Cretaceous.Fiorillo and a colleague published on a distinct single footprint in Denali National Park in 2012 that they determined to be made by a therizinosaur.In 2013 and 2014, they conducted a more detailed analysis of the area, and unearthed dozens more tracks of therizinosaurs.What surprised Fiorillo and his team most was the co-occurrence of dozens of hadrosaurs, also known as duck-bill dinosaurs.The plant-eating therizinosaurs are rare and unusual creatures in the fossil record.The strange-looking dinosaurs had long skinny necks, little teeth, a small beak for cropping plants, and big torsos accompanied by large hind feet and long arms.
Though therizinosaurs are known from Asia and North America, the best and most diverse fossil record is from Asia – even up to the time of extinction – and therein is the connection