The so-called “ice mouse” lived on the fringes of ancient Alaska. Likely guided by a keen sense of smell, it burrowed under leaf cover or underground for worms and insects. Above grew conifer trees, ferns, ancient herbs and horsetail plants.
Some 73 million years ago, it would have lived alongside other small mammals, birds and much larger dinosaurs. During that time, northern Alaska would have extended even further north, into the arctic. And for four months every winter, the Earth’s orbit would have plunged the region into darkness.
Amid such difficult conditions, Sikuomys mikros (“ice mouse”) weighed no more than about 11 grams, or two sheets of copy paper. Scientists discovered the miniscule mammal after finding several of its teeth, each of them about the size of a large grain of sand.
Despite the new species’ scientific name, the researchers say the animal more closely resembles a shrew or vole ...
