First Dinosaur Bone of Titanosaur from Antarctica Discovered in a Drawer

The first dinosaur bone ever found in Antarctica has been recognised as a relic that was hidden in a museum for almost 40 years. It provided scientist with fresh prospectus on the ancient creatures that formerly inhabited the ice continent. It is recognised as the 82 million year old Titanosaur.

The Fossil was found in 1985 while on a trip to James Ross Island but scientists were unable to identified it at the time. Reports according to a BBC story. The crew believed it to be the bones of a big Marine reptile and kept it in the British Antarctic Survey’s (BAS) Cambridge geology collection. There, it was mostly forgotten for nearly 40 years.

According to the story, paleontologists have re-examines the item and determined that it is a tail vertebra of a Titanosaur. It is a plant eating dinosaurs that comprised some of the biggest creatures to have ever set foot on earth.

The 82 million year old Titanosaur

The Fossil was recognised by the researchers as the vertebra from the Titanosauria group. They’re the largest dinosaurs to have ever set foot on earth. These dinosaurs often weighed more than 15 tonnes. The Antarctic species, however, would have been 6 to 7 meters in length.

The vertebra was discovered in the Santa Marta Formation, an 82 million-year-old Marine layer from the late Cretaceous. It originates from this geological deposit and is the only dinosaur Fossil found in Antarctica. According to scientists, the animal was transported out to see after it died. There, it was deposited on the ocean floor and eventually turn into a fossil.

Finding something hidden in plain sight

While examining thousands of specimens gathered over a decade during Antarctic missions, Dr. Mark Evans, collections manager at the British Antarctic Survey, rediscovered the fossil.

Geologist Dr Mike Thomson meticulously recorded its initial discovery in a field journal dated December 9, 1985. Thompson had characterised the Fossil as the “vertebra of a large reptile” and included the brief sketch of it. The Fossil was measured around 10 cm across.