South Polar Dinosaurs - Paleocene Dinosaur

Paleocene Dinosaur

Given that the dinosaurs and other fauna of Cretaceous were well adapted for living in long periods of dark and cold weather, it has been postulated that this community might have survived the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event (65.5 Ma) which exterminated the non-avian dinosaurs and many other of the world's species at the time. At the present time, this is merely speculation, but Australia may yet prove to be the best shot at finding fossils of post-Cretaceous, non-avian dinosaurs.

"Reports earlier this year that dwarf mammoths survived to early historical times, in islands off the coast of Siberia, give force to such speculation. If dinosaurs found a similar haven in which they outlived the rest of their kind, then we think polar Gondwana, including southeastern Australia, is a likely place to look for it."

However, small dinosaur fossils (teeth, bits of bone) found after the Cretaceous–Paleogene boundary are likely to be derived fossils washed out of eroded Mesozoic deposits, or remains of dinosaurs that died in the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event that were later washed into a lake or the sea.