Fossils of 2 New Dinosaur Species Found in Antarctica

Scientists in Antarctica discovered fossils of two new dinosaur species that roamed the icy continent long ago when it was lush with forests and verdant streams, the National Science Foundation announced this week.

The creatures were discovered in December at field sites 2,000 miles apart.

The first discovery was an agile, two-legged meat-eater that stood 6 to 8 feet tall and ripped its prey with curving, serrated fangs.

Crawling on hands and knees across hardscrabble ice, a team led by Judd Case, dean of science at Saint Mary’s College of California, unearthed the fossils on James Ross Island off the coast of the Antarctic Peninsula.

Because of its oddly primitive features, the researchers suspect that the 70-million-year-old species survived in Antarctica long after it was edged out by fiercer predators elsewhere in the world.

The second find was a 35-foot-long plant-eater that grazed the natural salad bar along an ancient river bank at the dawn of the age of dinosaurs.

Dinosaur hunters led by William Hammer of Augustana College in Rock Island, Ill., discovered the 190-million-year-old fossils embedded in solid rock on a 13,000-foot peak near the Beardmore Glacier, not far from the South Pole.

Struggling for breath in the frigid, oxygen-poor air, the team’s mountain guide spotted the fossil pelvis bone sticking out of the rock.

All told, the team excavated 3,000 pounds of fossilized bone belonging to an ancestor of the long-necked, whip-tailed sauropod dinosaurs, such as the brachiosaurus and titanosaur, whose massive footfalls once made the earth boom.

“It is the largest dinosaur that has ever been found in Antarctica,” Hammer said. “This could be one of the oldest sauropods in the world.”