Scientists have discovered the remains of a 150 million-year-old giant carnivorous marine reptile or Plesiosaur that lived in the waters of Antarctica. The creature is the first of its species located in Antarctica and the oldest creature ever found on the continent.
The fossil was found in the Antarctic peninsula, in a paleontological deposit located 113 kilometers southwest of Argentina’s Marambio Airbase.
-The discovery site was a two-hour helicopter journey from Argentina’s Marambio Base on the tip of Antarctica.
-Antarctica was at the time part of the Gondwana continent, which also included Australia, New Zealand, India, Madagascar, Africa and South America, before continental drift pushed them apart.
- The four-finned reptile, which measured up to 12 meters (13 yards) long, dates from the late Jurassic period and is the most ancient creature ever discovered on the continent
- With a huge body, four powerful flippers and a long, winding neck, plesiosaurs look a lot like the fabled Loch Ness Monster, rumored to live in a lake in Scotland
- The first scientifically documented discovery of a plesiosaur skeleton was published in 1719 by English antiquarian William Stukeley
- The plesiosaur family was diverse, including a number of distinct species. The largest stretched up to 39 feet long.
- The discovery suggests that the ancient frozen lake where the new fossil was unearthed might prove to be a site of vast paleontological wealth.
- The oldest plesiosaur species comes from the youngest part of the Triassic period and is about 201 million years old.
