Some of these Antarctica scary facts have simple explanations, others not so much. "We will spend the next two weeks taking advantage of quiet periods when the katabatic winds drop off to observe the increase in salinity of the shelf waters below polynyas as brine rejected during sea-ice formation rains down to depths below 1,000 meters [3,280 feet]," Williams said. It was then kept secret from every other person in the world by calling it "The Pyramid" and then use that name on every . With such a young history of Antarctic exploration, it is no wonder that there are still many strange things about Antarctica that remain mysterious to this day. Not according to biology or history. PRO TIP: My go-to camera for all my travels is the Sony A7iii I highly recommend it! If you asked a friend, it would probably be the thing that sunk the Titanic in that famous DeCaprio movie. Dr. Williams confirmed to Gizmodo that dragon ice is a variation on pancake ice, which forms "when piles of slushy ice are shaped and sculpted by wave action or winds." And their immense patience in waiting for a meal to come to them. In 2003, however, a team discovered that the color was a result of oxidized iron. She has been put through hell and come out the other side . Thwaites holds back a large portion of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet and a handful of nearby glaciers; if Thwaites disappears, we could see an additional eight feet of sea level rise from these sources, on top of the two feet from Thwaites itself. By Garreth / November 21, 2021. It is also called Hoffman's. For 40 years, paleontologist Wann Langston worked off-and-on to complete the descriptionbut then he died in 2013, leaving the work unfinished. After drilling out the borehole, the scientists lowered a sediment corer and an attached video camera through the ice shelf. The researchers also unexpectedly discovered that the water column underground split into four or five distinct layers of water flowing in opposite directions. I always think back to Alien vs. For a long time, paleontologists had instead assumed that the fossils belonged to a pterosaur called Quetzalcoatlus northropi, says study coauthor Dave Hone, a paleontologist at Queen Mary University of London. Antarctic dinosaurs found in icy graves Palaeontologists working on top a frozen Antarctic mountain have extracted a rock and ice fossil popsicle encasing the remains of a massive, previously unknown dinosaur. Science correspondent Scientists drilling off the coast of West Antarctica have found the fossil remains of forests that grew in the region 90 million years ago - in the time of the dinosaurs. The video has recorded nearly 300,000 views, sparking fierce debate among conspiracy theorists online. A never-before-seen ecosystem lurks in an underground river deep below the icy surface in Antarctica. Associated mainly with wetland habitats such as ponds, lakes, rivers, bogs, and marshes, and usually thriving most in milder climates. What we find by visiting the coordinates 7200' 36.00'' S, 168 34' 40.00'' E is a mysterious face in the ice - seemingly complete with two eyes, a nose, and a mouth. When the researchers sent a camera down through the icy tunnel and into the cavern, hundreds of tiny, blurry flecks in the water obscured the video feed. This dragon drawn on a rock weighing a staggering 120 tons is believed to be exceptionally old, a megalith designed by a mysterious ancient population about whom we know nothing. When it was discovered in 1911 by an Australian geologist, the explanation he came up with was that microscopic red algae gave the waterfall its coloring. When it was walking on the ground, as azhdarchids often did, it was more than eight feet tall at the shoulder, roughly the same height as some giraffes. They are associated with deep waterholes, rain, rivers, and, you guessed it, rainbows. They published . Discovered in 2010 in Montanas famed Hell Creek Formation of the late Cretaceous, the 40-foot-long fossil took four years to excavate and prepare., The 'extreme cruelty' around the global trade in frog legs, What does cancer smell like? ", One viewer noted: Seals dont have back legs.". The remains first gained notoriety for their scars. Researchers recently brought this "hidden world" into the light, revealing a dark and jagged cavern filled with swarms of tiny, shrimplike creatures. Image: British Antarctic Survey. There are also indications other animals may be fixed to the boulder, such as tube worms, stalked barnacles, or hydroids, which are related to jellyfish. But there is so much more. A new study in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology describes a new pterosaur called Cryodrakon boreas, "frozen dragon of the north winds." Heres how it works. "But what is clear is that great changes are afoot.". While it is most likely some kind of big whale species, it still has a menacing, creepy air to it. The red of our blood is caused by hemoglobin, which carries oxygen throughout our body. A fossil from Antarctica is now the heaviest known animal in this group of prehistoric marine reptiles. Unless you get to scary Antarctica where Polar Gigantism is a thing. Regardless, sometimes you might get lucky and find some Antarctica mythical creatures. Rare dragon-scale ice found in Antarctica. Heres why each season begins twice. Weird Google Earth images appear to show a giant "dome" rammed in the ice and it's sent conspiracy theorists wild. Did an ancient species of a dragon found living in Antarctica? The secret ecosystem was found more than 1,600 feet below the surface. Eco-friendly burial alternatives, explained. Its definitely an indication that toward the end of the Cretaceous, [plesiosaurs] managed to expand their feeding repertoire, Schulp says. The sea spiders rock! Meet the Great Eared-Nightjar, The Bird That Is Basically A Tiny Dragon. More work on Cryodrakon may help crack the mystery and add more clues to this large pterosaurs lifestyle. Why wetlands are so critical for life on Earth, Rest in compost? Something fascinating about their legendary predatory skills. "This changes our current understanding and models of these environments," Stevens said. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. The Dragon's Breath cave is the largest non subglacial lake in the world. (GiMa38 / CC BY-SA 4.0 ) Accounts of Reptilian Monsters in Modern-Day New Guinea . Lol. But if you empty and refill the tray each night, you get so much more. Hearst Magazine Media, Inc. All Rights Reserved. At current prices, a metallic mineral deposit found in Antarctica . The new year once started in Marchhere's why, Jimmy Carter on the greatest challenges of the 21st century, This ancient Greek warship ruled the Mediterranean, How cosmic rays helped find a tunnel in Egypt's Great Pyramid, Who first rode horses? Antarctica hasnt been doing so well lately. Can we bring a species back from the brink? Dragon skin occurs when strong "katabatic" winds downslope winds that exist only over icy regions continually lift the polynya's surface ice, subsequently freezing the water below, according to Guy Williams, a polar oceanographer from the Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies at the University of Tasmania in Australia. NASA Found a Manhattan-Sized Cavern in Antarctica, 60 Scientists Are Trying to Block the Sun, giant underground cavern in the glacier almost as big as Manhattan, map out glaciers and ice sheets in three dimensions, Your Privacy Choices: Opt Out of Sale/Targeted Ads. The discovery of what appear to be sponges in the pitch-black seawater beneath almost half a mile of ice has biologists baffled. The noisy red and blue part in the bottom corner comes from ice breaking off into the sea. Antarctic researchers have shared images of the rarely seen scaly ice formation referred to as dragon ice. All rights reserved, dug up from Canadas Dinosaur Provincial Park in 1992, Fossil Pictures Capture the Mystery of Dinosaurs. These underwater terrors can grow up to have a leg span of 25 centimeters. Satellite photos showed an unusual groove in the ice shelf close to where it met with the land, and researchers identified the peculiar feature as a subsurface river, which they described in a statement (opens in new tab). Visit our corporate site (opens in new tab). With 170 of its 300-odd bones preserved, this scientifically important but privately owned skeleton is currently at the Museum fr Naturkunde in Berlin, Germany. formed in Antarctica, just as they have on adjacent continents once connected to Antarctica, but be-cause nearly 98 percent of the continent is covered by ice, few mineral deposits are likely to be exposed. The extremely cold water is full of animals such as Antarctic krill, a . Bats and agaves make tequila possibleand theyre both at risk, This empress was the most dangerous woman in Rome. We dont have a skull, but we have a lot of pieces of the specimen, OGorman says. The cavern is visible as the growing red blob in the center of the image. An illustration shows an elasmosaur swimming through rough waters. They used jackhammers, rock saws and chisels at a punishing 4200 metres to unearth the dinosaur, which represents a new genus and species. He thinks the work is well done, and hes happy that the team hasnt jumped to hasty conclusionsOGorman even hesitates to say whether the species is definitely from the Aristonectes genus, since further evidence may put the species in a new genus entirely. Researchers needed a more complete specimen, and as it happened, William Zinsmeister of Purdue University had discovered a potential candidate on Seymour Islandjust south of the northern tip of the Antarctic Peninsuladuring a 1989 expedition. After sending the camera down into the river, the team was surprised to learn that the cavern looked drastically different from what they had predicted. While not part of the same family, the underwater Sea Spiders youll find here are some of the strangest things found in Antarctica to date! I recommend either SafetyWing or World Nomads. But the researchers realized that a separate fossil at the Royal Tyrrell Museuma smashed-up tube of bone 16 inches longwas the middle portion of a neck vertebra from an azhdarchid that probably had a wingspan of more than 30 feet. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); I knew not of these creatures, nor, spooky happenings, in Antarctica. It's thought both types of stationary animals are types of sponges or are related to sponges, but scientists did not expect to find them beneath the ice shelf, in pitch-blackness and hundreds of miles from the coast. Why wetlands are so critical for life on Earth, Rest in compost? In 1911, scientists noticed an outflow of dark red water coming out of a glacier. "It looked like a loaf of bread, with a bulge at the top and narrow slope at the bottom," Stevens said. Heres the technology that helped scientists find itand what it may have been used for. According to a study published in Frontiers in Marine Science, researchers have discovered a massive living world below Antarctica's icy surface that could be as big as 5 million square. Follow Kacey on Twitter. Fact or fiction .An ancient species of dragon was found living in Antarctica? The ice shelves under Antarctica are hiding numerous things unknown to humankind. Beyond spooky really because this beast morphed into any being it killed. Elasmosaurs make up a family of the plesiosaurs, which represent some of the largest sea creatures of the Cretaceous. Gear-obsessed editors choose every product we review. The climate of Antarctica can vary depending on where you are and the time of the season. Long COVID patients turn to unproven treatments, Why evenings can be harder on people with dementia, This disease often goes under-diagnosedunless youre white, This sacred site could be Georgias first national park, See glow-in-the-dark mushrooms in Brazils other rainforest, 9 things to know about Holi, Indias most colorful festival, Anyone can discover a fossil on this beach. ", However, others supported the 'ancient creature' claims, adding: "It looks like an alligator skeleton, definitely some type of reptile that walks on land. There are some people out there that would do anything to get their hands on some good scotch that's over a hundred years old. Schulp adds that the work moves our knowledge of plesiosaurs forward, and he is excited to see Argentine paleontologists go back out there and find more fossils. But again, as with many weird things found in Antarctica, the explanation is much simpler. One user said: "What looks like hands, fingers and feet and toes is whats hidden in its webbing. Scientists find 66-million-year-old sea lizard egg in Antarctica, the biggest ever recorded Chilean researchers were exploring the southern frozen continent looking for fossils of marine. The roughly 5,000-year-old human remains were found in graves from the Yamnaya culture, and the discovery may partially explain their rapid expansion throughout Europe. it has spawned numerous theories on what it could be. They were some kind of weird plesiosaurs that nobody knew.. Its huge expanses of white winterland are full of. . New York, A Fish Equipped With Antifreeze. How a zoo break-in changed the life of an owl called Flaco, Naked mole rats are fertile until they die, study finds. We use your sign-up to provide content in ways you've consented to and to improve our understanding of you. Bats and agaves make tequila possibleand theyre both at risk, This empress was the most dangerous woman in Rome. He is also interested in evolution, climate change, robots, space exploration, environmental conservation and anything that's been fossilized. That guy is big! Schulp says from looking at photos of the bones. But, it could certainly be the subject of a song on their album! But after refocusing the camera, they realized that the lens was being swarmed by tiny crustaceans known as amphipods. Please be respectful of copyright. It could be an old dinosaur. It is barren, cold and almost seems like it is from another world, so it would make sense that if a UFO were to land on Earth with the hope of going undiscovered, that's where it'd park, and it turns out, that just might have happened.. A researcher examining satellite maps of the continent uncovered what they claim is a UFO, and sent the discovery . Footage of the oddity was uploaded on the YouTube channel of MrMBB333 who regularly shares weird . The finding waspublished Mondayin Frontiers in Marine Science. YouTuber Michael Bradbury, who hosts the conspiracychannel MrMBB333, suggested that the skeleton remains indicated a dinosaur which had been preserved in the Antarctic ice. Also, meteorites that fall to Antarctica are preserved in ice for a long time. The mysterious skeleton of a creature has been found on Google Maps in Antartica, The YouTuber shows the creatures front and rear limbs, as the curve of its spine and its skull, The YouTuber proceeds to analyse the skeleton, before concluding that it could be an ancient dinosaur, Stonehenge builders branded just as clever as us, Dinosaur discovery: Found fossils may be largest land animal, MrMBB333 has previously posted videos of 'mysterious' Google Maps in Antarctica, BBC's correspondent predicts leadership chaos even after CDU vote, Stunning backlash grows in revolt over EU's vaccine rollout, Prince William 'concerned' that Harry is trying to 'exploit' Diana, Space law: Is first step of alien constitution being prepared, Area 51 images show strange structure inside an open hangar, Solar flares study: Activity might not preclude existence of life. All rights reserved. (Find out about a plesiosaur fossil found with a baby preserved in its body.). By Avery Thompson Published: Jan 31, 2019 A gigantic "alien" face in Antarctica. The discovery of Cryodrakon means North America was home to at least two genera of large azhdarchids, expanding our knowledge of ancient diversity and how the worlds largest flying creatures eked out a living. As for those sea spiders I may dig em, having seen some cool-looking spiders from the tropics. This genus, found in the Southern Hemisphere, is characterized by shorter necks and larger skulls. There are not, nor have there ever been actual dragons on Earth. Tell us below which one of theweird things in Antarctica you are the most shocked about! The groundbreaking promise of cellular housekeeping. Mining is illegal in Antarctica due to the Antarctic Treaty. To recognize the modern climate in the region where this pterosaur once roamed, they named the new pterosaur Cryodrakon boreas, or the cold dragon of the north winds. Habib, a fan of the TV show Game of Thrones, had also suggested Cryodrakon viserion, a reference to one of the shows dragons, in part because of its rise from the ice, and in part because the animal might have reached movie-monster proportions. It was previously unknown if they harbored life, which makes the new finding even more important. But I would be much more conservative in saying its Cryodrakon, because, yeah, theres no features on that at all.. With its ends broken off, that vertebra had avoided identification for years: Paleontologists had even once tentatively described it as a leg bone. Most models of the Thwaites glacier dont take into account rapid cavern forming, so the entire glacier is likely to be melting much faster than our predictions estimate. Maybe were being too harsh here after all, this is just a satellite image were talking about. Future US, Inc. Full 7th Floor, 130 West 42nd Street, They determined that the tunnels were most likely the result of meltwater flowing underneath the ice shelf. A huge skull discovered in China may be a new human species: Dragon Man. Most animals, like people, have red blood. The roughly 5,000-year-old human remains were found in graves from the Yamnaya culture, and the discovery may partially explain their rapid expansion throughout Europe. That cavern is likely filled with air much warmer than the surrounding ice, triggering faster melting of the glacier than would happen otherwise. One of Earth's loneliest volcanoes holds an extraordinary secret. Scientists have found a tiny animal, Tullbergia, living under rocks in Antarctica's inland mountain peaks, where nothing should survive. Live Science is part of Future US Inc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. / Credit: NASA. The 'Dragon-skin' ice is very rare and has not been spotted in Antarctica since 2007 . If they found pieces of what looked like a large Cretaceous azhdarchid, they provisionally assigned them to Quetzalcoatlus, because they didnt know enough about Quetzalcoatlus to say anything different. It was a bit of a disappointment to them theyd spent weeks getting there and it didnt work, said marine biologist Huw Griffiths of the British Antarctic Survey, who is the lead author of the published study. Fossil remains found by a Chilean research team in the Atacama Desert have been determined to belong to a prehistoric pterosaur flying dragon, it was reported. The seas around Antarctica are rich in marine (sea-living) animals, ranging from microscopic plankton to the largest animal ever to live on Earth, the blue whale. NASA Found a Manhattan-Sized Cavern in Antarctica The cavern sits where nearly 14 billion tons of ice used to be, all of which melted in the last few years. When does spring start? Site Powered by Pix & Hue. Haha `Deception Island indeed. For years it was a mystery we didnt know if they were elasmosaurs or not, says Jos OGorman, a paleontologist with the National Scientific and Technical Research Council of Argentina (CONICET) who is based at the Museum of La Plata near Buenos Aires. While some previously known Aristonectes have weighed about 11 tons or so, most other elasmosaurs only come in at around five tons. One of Earth's loneliest volcanoes holds an extraordinary secret. This cycle produces 10 times more than the average amount of sea ice formed in the coastal polynyas, Williams said. According to National Geographic, the fifty-million-year-old sperm cells on the ancient worm's egg case were found in Antarctica. Please be respectful of copyright. (Though, it's been mentioned now, so kind of?) The stripes color can be blue, black, or green. On active days, the team had to wait for the sun to defrost the soil before they could excavate, and every piece wrested from the dirt would then need to be shipped by helicopter to the Argentine Marambio Base a few miles away. Photograph by Stocktrek Images, Inc. / Alamy. Immediately, we'd get about 2 feet of sea level rise. The pterosaurs bones have been known to scientists for nearly three decades, but it has only now been confirmed as its own genus, researchers announced on Tuesday in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. "That is what the katabatic winds are doing in the polynya, removing the ice, exposing the water and making more ice form.". Like other members of the shergottite-nakhlite-chassignite (SNC) group of meteorites, ALH84001 is thought to have originated on Mars.However, it does not fit into any of the previously . Unauthorized use is prohibited. Thanks to this nearly Manhattan-size gap in the ice, the entire glacier along with the surrounding ice sheet will likely disappear much more quickly. I'm a fun-loving blogger and coach from New Zealand, living in the south of Albania! What do you think theyll find on (or in) the icy continent next? The animal, when alive, would not have been a frozen dragon, notes study coauthor Mike Habib, a paleontologist at the University of Southern California. A discovery of this magnitude would definitely be spooky, but according to LiveScience the formation is simply a mountain that looks like a pyramid. With 170 of its 300-odd bones preserved, this scientifically important but privately owned skeleton is currently at the Museum fr Naturkunde in Berlin, Germany. The abdomen is divided into ten segments. October is coming up, and you just know social media will be flooded with Halloween posts even before the event. At the coordinates 66 36 14 S 99 43 40 E the strange shape is clearly visible among the rock and snow in the hostile continent. Such an interesting post, Anita. The largest meteorite discovered in Antarctica weighs 7.6 kilograms. How metal.. Sometimes the ice freezes into these beautiful ornate patterns reminiscent of dragon scales. The Argentina Antarctic Institute got involved and started excavating the fossil as part of its annual summer research expeditions, but the giant reptile was uncovered at a glacial pace due to weather and logistics. In late April 2020, two Chinese icebreakers made a port call in Shanghai to a large state media celebration. The way it flies - it's like it's hovering in mid-air, just like a dragon. Theres some weird stuff in Antarctica. The only things you would expect to find are things that can wander around and find food, he said. The mysterious skeleton of a creature has been found on Google Maps in Antarctica in footage which has since gone viral. ", The YouTuber added:"I think this thing was frozen in time. The mysterious skeleton of a creature has been found on Google Maps in Antarctica in footage which has since gone viral. He studied Marine Biology at the University of Exeter (Penryn campus) and after graduating started his own blog site "Marine Madness," which he continues to run with other ocean enthusiasts. A lot of marine life would have needed to thrive there to satisfy the appetite of such a large creature, so the fact that these animals continued to exist so late in the Cretaceous adds to the evidence that the aquatic world, at least, was doing just fine right up until the sudden mass extinction. The shark's scientific name, Dracopristis hoffmanorum, was announced in a press release by the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science (NMMNHS) on Thursday. Their eyes are compound -they consist of 24,000 ommatidia (or tiny eyes). The discovery of the secret shrimp-infested structure had the team "jumping up and down for joy," Stevens added. Three oval shaped motherships about 30 miles in diameter were discovered nearby revealing that the Pre-Adamites were extraterrestrial in origin, and had arrived on Earth about 55,000 years ago. Saturday, 4th March 2023See today's front and back pages, download the newspaper, order back issues and use the historic Daily Express newspaper archive. The flying reptile was mostly head and neckand had at least a 16-foot wingspan, if not bigger. Youd hardly expect them to come in stripes as well.
This nearly whole, deep-black skull belongs to the most complete specimen of Tyrannosaurus rex on display in Europe, an individual nicknamed Tristan Otto. The remains of a dinosaur described as the "closest thing we have to a real-life dragon" has been unveiled in . At first, researchers believed the color was due to the red algae, but years later, it was revealed that the color is due to iron oxides, Forbes . This site contains affiliate links for products and services we recommend. It wouldve been nice to have pictures accompanying this article. Work could only happen for a few weeks in January and early February, and some years the dig didnt happen at all because of conditions and limited resources. The male characters all stand on their own, being easily distinguishable from each other. Discovered in 2010 in Montanas famed Hell Creek Formation of the late Cretaceous, the 40-foot-long fossil took four years to excavate and prepare. In the icy badlands of Alberta, paleontologists have found a frozen dragon: a new genus of pterosaur that once soared over the heads of dinosaurs with a wingspan that stretched at least 16 feet. The host shows the creatures front and rear limbs, as the curve of its spine and its skull. In the meantime, North American paleontologists have been caught in a catch-22. The animal would have weighed as much as 15 tons, and it is now one of the most complete ancient reptile fossils ever discovered in Antarctica. Crew-6 commander Stephen Bowen and pilot Warren "Woody" Hoburg, flanked by cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev and United Arab Emirates flier Sultan Alneyadi, planned to strap . The wall stops everything from falling over the edge of the Earth. What is wind chill, and how does it affect your body? It was visible as a long depression, or groove, stretching across the ice a hallmark of an underground river. (University of Tasmania) Despite the frigid temperatures, Williams estimated that the ocean was generating more than 1,000 to 1,500 watts per square. With 170 of its 300-odd bones preserved, this scientifically important but privately owned skeleton is currently at the Museum fr Naturkunde in Berlin, Germany. As a point of comparison, Habib visited Canadas Royal Tyrrell Museum to see the partial pterosaur skeleton dug up in 1992, whose limb bone is among the best preserved in the world. Over 14,000 meteorites have been found in the Sahara Desert of northern Africa, most since 1995, mainly by nomads and private collectors. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. 8 Spooky and Strange Things Found in Antarctica 1. She had electric blue eyes, and a chilling aura. Thankfully, they'll all miss. When does spring start? All 154 people on board survived after being rescued by nearby vessels. Dinosaurs once foraged beneath the Southern Lights in Antarctica By Howard Falcon-Lang Royal Holloway, London It may be hard to believe, but Antarctica was once covered in towering forests. Did an ancient species of a dragon found living in Antarctica? In East Antarctica, there is a place where it looks like the continent is gushing out blood. Nightjars are found all around the world, with the exception of Antarctica and certain island groups such as the Seychelles. The arrangement of these pneumatophores can help scientists tell pterosaur species apart. The continent is rapidly melting, and a large chunk of the snow and ice is held back from the ocean only by an array of glaciers and ice shelves guarding the coasts. Related: Alarming heat waves hit Arctic and Antarctica at the same time. In the past 15 years, paleontologists have found more types of azhdarchids in France, Morocco, Kazakhstan, Hungary, Romania, and elsewhere, giving a much better reference for diversity within this pterosaur group. The massive explosion caused pressure waves that rang Earth's atmosphere like a bell, and sensors the researchers had placed on the ice's surface recorded similar pressure waves moving through the underground chamber. By The Siberian Times reporter . Scary flick, great performance by Kirk Russell. Well, in 2016 a team of researchers discovered some very interesting things found frozen in Antarctica. MrMBB333 has previously posted videos of 'mysterious' Google Maps in Antarctica, including what he alleged was a huge man-made disc emerging from the snow in the region. But the question of how these animals get food will have to wait until another scientific expedition can visit the spot, perhaps equipped with a remotely operated underwater vehicle that can recover samples of the animals.