Paleontologists at the Perot Museum of Nature and Science are making new dinosaur discoveries in rarely studied parts of Alaska.
Since 2002, museum staff have been making trips to Alaska and have so far discovered two new species of dinosaur.
"This is an area that was under-explored, our research program here is sort of blazing the trails and making the discoveries," Ron Tykoski, the museum's director of paleontology, said.
Earlier this summer, the museum opened a new traveling exhibit focused on the dinosaurs of South America and Asia. Tykoski said increasingly their discoveries in Alaska are showing how land bridges helped connect dinosaur species millions of years ago.
"Most of the dinosaurs we are finding up in Alaska have some ties, relationships and similarities to dinosaurs we are finding mostly in Asia," Tykoski said.
Tykoski said he hoped the traveling exhibit will help museum visitors draw a tangible connection to the dinosaurs of North America that the museum currently has on permanent display.
"That's the goal for most of us, to make those discoveries known both to the scientific community and to the public," Tykoski said.
