Antarctica dinosaur fossil identified as rare titanosaur after 40 years
Key takeaways
- Add ARY News on Google AAResize In a significant scientific breakthrough, a fossilized bone found in Antarctica nearly 40 years ago has been confirmed to belong to a massive titanosaur.
- Mike Thomson discovered a 10-centimeter-wide bone while studying marine rock layers on the Antarctic Peninsula.
- The historic bone was hidden inside a drawer and remained unidentified for nearly 40 years until BAS collections manager Dr.
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Add ARY News on Google AAResize In a significant scientific breakthrough, a fossilized bone found in Antarctica nearly 40 years ago has been confirmed to belong to a massive titanosaur. This historic find is the first dinosaur bone ever discovered on the icy continent.
In December 1985, geologist Dr. Mike Thomson discovered a 10-centimeter-wide bone while studying marine rock layers on the Antarctic Peninsula. He documented it in his field diary as a “vertebra of a large reptile’ and sent the specimen to the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) geology collection in England.
The historic bone was hidden inside a drawer and remained unidentified for nearly 40 years until BAS collections manager Dr. Mark Evans examined it more closely. Drawing on his expertise in vertebrate paleontology, Evans identified its unique shape and correctly guessed it was a tail vertebra from a titanosaur.