Much of Druckenmiller's work focuses on cold-hardy, high-latitude prehistoric animals. In 2015, he and his student named a new species of a duck-billed, plant-eating dinosaur,
Ugrunaaluk kuukpikensis, that apparently lived in the snowy Arctic year-round. His Arctic research received media attention from
National Geographic that wrote about
Ugrunaaluk: "The image of tyrannosaurs, horned dinosaurs, and hadrosaurs walking through the cool forests of ancient Alaska has run so counter to the classic Mesozoic imagery that it's not surprising that this environment has been the subject of several recent documentaries and even a feature film." including fossil track sites in
Denali National Park and
Svalbard. Druckenmiller started a five-year project in Denali in partnership with the
Park Service to investigate the surrounding polar dinosaurs. As part of this project, they found the first fossilized bone in the park. Druckenmiller has also extensively studied high latitude marine reptiles, describing several new species. These include the
thalattosaur Gunakadeit joseeae from the
Hound Island Volcanics of Alaska, the plesiosaur
Edgarosaurus muddi from the
Thermopolis Shale of
Montana the plesiosaurs
Nichollssaura borealis and
Wapuskanectes betsynichollsae and the ichthyosaur
Athabascasaurus bitumineus from the
Clearwater Formation of Alberta, and the plesiosaurs
Ophthalmothule cryostea,
Djupedalia engeri,
Spitrasaurus larseni, and
Spitrasaurus wensaasi, the pliosaur
Pliosaurus funkei, and the ichthyosaurs
Cryopterygius kristiansenae,''
Keilhauia nui, and Palvennia hoybergeti from the Agardhfjellet Formation. and of
steppe bison, the dietary ecology of
wild horses and steppe bison on the
mammoth steppe of Alaska, and the changes in geographic distribution of American mastodons in response to climatic oscillations during the
Pleistocene. Druckenmiller's expertise in organizing safe and successful
expeditions into the
Arctic was the subject of a
Nature article, where Druckenmiller credits his expedition success to the good food. "Good food — high quality and in copious amounts — is essential...After 30 field seasons, Druckenmiller needs only a dry tent to be happy. But he keeps a sharp eye out for anyone who might be overwhelmed by miserable conditions." Below is a list of taxa that Druckenmiller has contributed to naming: == Predator X ==