Scientists have identified a new extinct species of rhinoceros that once roamed Canada’s High Arctic—a remarkable find that sheds new light on how ancient animals spread across the planet.
The nearly complete fossil, discovered on Devon Island in Nunavut, represents the most northerly rhino ever known and offers clues about the ancient connections between continents.
The discovery was made by researchers from the Canadian Museum of Nature (CMN) and described in the journal Nature Ecology and Evolution.
The new species, named Epiaceratherium itjilik (pronounced eet-jee-look), lived around 23 million years ago during the Early Miocene epoch.
The name “itjilik” means “frosty” in Inuktitut, chosen to honor the rhino’s icy Arctic home.
“Today there are only five living species of rhinoceroses in Africa and Asia,” says Dr. Danielle Fraser, the study’s lead author and head of paleobiology at the CMN.
“But in the past, they were far more widespread.
This new Arctic species adds an important piece to the puzzle of rhino evolution.”
The fossil was recovered from lakebed sediments inside Haughton Crater on Devon Island—one of the most fossil-rich sites in the Canadian Arctic.
About 75% of the skeleton was preserved, including teeth, jaws, and skull fragments, allowing scientists to confidently classify it as a new species.
The bones are exceptionally well-preserved, retaining their three-dimensional shape and only minor mineral replacement, which is rare for fossils this old.
“Finding such a complete specimen in this condition is incredibly special,” says CMN paleobiologist Marisa Gilbert, a co-author of the study. “It’s the most complete rhino fossil ever found this far north.”
Epiaceratherium itjilik was relatively small compared to modern rhinos—about the size of today’s Indian rhinoceros—and likely lacked a horn. It was a light-bodied, plant-eating mammal that lived in a much warmer Arctic than today, when forests still covered much of the region.
The species’ story also carries a strong human connection.
The team worked with Inuit Elder Jarloo Kiguktak of Grise Fiord, the northernmost Inuit community in Canada, to select the name. Kiguktak had visited the fossil site and participated in earlier Arctic paleontology expeditions.
Most of the original fossils were collected in 1986 by Dr. Mary Dawson of the Carnegie Museum of Natural History, a pioneer in Arctic paleontology.
Dawson’s work at Haughton Crater laid the foundation for decades of research. She continued collaborating with CMN scientists until her passing in 2020 and is honored as a posthumous co-author of the paper.
The discovery of E. itjilik has helped researchers rethink how ancient rhinos traveled across continents. Using detailed comparisons with 57 other rhino species, most now extinct, Fraser’s team reconstructed a new evolutionary “family tree.”
Their analysis revealed that this Arctic rhino likely migrated from Europe into North America via a now-vanished North Atlantic land bridge—possibly much later than previously believed. Earlier studies suggested this route disappeared about 56 million years ago, but the new findings indicate it may have remained open as late as the Miocene, tens of millions of years later.
“This means the North Atlantic land bridge played a much bigger role in rhino evolution than we thought,” says Fraser. “It provided a pathway for animal migrations long after we assumed it was gone.”
The fossil also became part of another groundbreaking study, published in Nature in 2025, showing that partial proteins could be extracted from E. itjilik’s tooth enamel. Led by researchers at the University of Copenhagen, that work pushed back the timescale for recoverable ancient proteins by millions of years, offering exciting new tools for understanding mammal evolution.
For the scientists, the discovery of the “Arctic rhino” is not just about a single species—it’s a reminder of how much the Arctic still has to teach us about Earth’s deep history.
“Every new fossil from the Arctic helps us fill in the story of how animals adapted, evolved, and spread across the globe,” says Fraser. “It’s amazing to think that millions of years ago, rhinos were walking across what is now frozen tundra.”
The beautifully preserved fossil of Epiaceratherium itjilik is now part of the Canadian Museum of Nature’s collections in Ottawa, where it continues to offer fresh insights into the ancient, interconnected world of prehistoric mammals.
