Digging for Dinosaurs in Antarctica
Some people are surprised when they find out that dinosaurs lived on Antarctica. During the Mesozoic Era, Antarctica had no ice, and was actually near the equator of the Earth! It was a warm place then, and many kinds of dinosaurs lived here.
Only eight kinds of dinosaurs have been uncovered
here so far, however, the latest in 2004 (see
article in US- National Geographic).
The reason so few have been found is that their skeletons are under
a mile or more of ice in some cases. Our continent has many more, surely, hiding there
under the ice. Digging
for dinosaurs is very difficult here, but they may be, along with
the other plants and animals of the past, preserved much better
than anywhere else on Earth!
This is why Antarctic digs are especially valuable in paleontology
and archeology.
Cryolophosaurus is the name of perhaps the most interesting species found here, discovered in 1991, whose name means 'iced over crusted-head lizard'. It ate meat and was rather small at 3m high, nowhere near the size of a Tyrannosaurs Rex or an Allosaurus.
Antarctica, one recalls, was part of Pangaea 250 million years, and slowly drifted away during the Mesozoic Era. At the time, amphibians four meters long lived in lakes, while half meter long dragonflies flew overhead. Soon after, about 200 mya, Pangaea split into Laurasia (north) and Gondwana (south) The climate of Antarctica was then like that of Florida or Greece today.
By 175 million years ago, carnivore and herbivore both called this land home, along with smaller mammals (mammal like reptiles). Pterosaurs flew overhead. AU sponsors and is expanding research into dinosaurs and other prehistoric animals... on the 7th Continent!