First Antarctic dinosaur fossil identified as titanosaur tail bone
After four decades (about 41 years) sitting unnoticed, the first dinosaur fossil ever found in Antarctica has finally been identified: a titanosaur tail bone!
Originally dug up on James Ross Island back in 1985 and mistaken for a marine reptile, this 10-centimeter-wide vertebra was recently spotted by Mark Evans, who realized it looked a lot like a dinosaur.
Titanosaur lived in forested Antarctica
Experts have now confirmed it's from a titanosaur, a huge, plant-eating dino with a long neck and tail that lived about 82 million years ago, when Antarctica was covered in forests (not ice).
This particular dino was probably around 23 feet long, possibly still growing.
The discovery adds an important piece to our understanding of how dinosaurs lived and adapted even at Earth's coldest edges.