First dinosaur bone from Antarctica was unnoticed for 40 years
The fossil, which has been kept in archives for 40 years, has been confirmed to be the first dinosaur bone found in Antarctica.
First unearthed on James Ross Island during the British Antarctic Survey in 1985, the fossil was initially misidentified as a prehistoric reptile and quietly stored away in the organisation’s massive geology collection.
Now, four decades later, modern analysis has confirmed that this forgotten artifact is actually a tail vertebra from a Titanosaur, a group of massive, long-necked sauropods.
This discovery marks a new chapter in paleontology in Antarctica, where only one sauropod bone has ever been found.
Dinosaur researcher Professor Paul Barrett of the Natural History Museum, who helped confirm the find, said: “Believe it or not, this is the first dinosaur fragment discovered in Antarctica. It was overlooked because I thought it was misidentified in the harsh terrain, but it is a sauropod and only the second sauropod bone on the entire continent.”
Collection manager of the British Antarctic Survey, Dr. Mark Evans had identified this example among thousands of archived items.
“When you start thinking, ‘What’s in this drawer?’, sometimes you come across something and think, ‘Oh, that looks interesting,'” he told the BBC.
Realizing that the bone was very similar to a dinosaur vertebra, Dr. Evans immediately summoned Prof Barrett. Its confirmation, along with the date of discovery, means that this Titanosaur bone is the first dinosaur fossil ever discovered on the continent. Analysis of the finding was published in the journal Acta Palaeontologica Polonica.
“As soon as I saw it I knew what we were up against,” Prof Barrett told the BBC. “It was absolutely certain that we were dealing with a Titanosaur.”
More than 100 species of these four-legged, plant-eating giants have been identified worldwide, primarily in South America and Central Asia.
While the largest Titanosaurs reached staggering lengths of over 35 meters and weighed up to 60 tonnes, researchers estimate that this particular Antarctic individual was a more modest juvenile or smaller species, measuring around six to seven meters long.
Titanosaurs fall under the sauropod class, which includes some of the largest creatures to walk the Earth, such as Brontosaurus and Brachiosaurus, both of which were over 20 meters long.
This particular dinosaur is estimated to have roamed the region 82 million years ago during the Late Cretaceous Period, when Antarctica was covered with lush forests that provided abundant food for herbivores.
Although it is often difficult to backdate such fragmented fossils, Prof Barrett explained how scientists were able to trace back the origin of the Titanosaur fossil: “Because it came from sea rocks, it was dated quite precisely.
“The spine was found next to ammonite fragments, meaning this is an animal that went out to sea after death, perhaps being washed by a river.”
Although the specimen is too fragmented to accurately identify the Titanosaur species, it marks an important milestone in the scientific reconstruction of Antarctica’s prehistoric ecosystems.
Today, Antarctica remains one of the most challenging places on Earth for paleontological field work; Up to three kilometers of solid ice hide prehistoric records trapped in the bedrock beneath.
Because of these extreme conditions, only about half a dozen dinosaur species have been discovered on the continent so far; but the Natural History Museum suggests the real number is probably higher.
