Rare dragon-scale ice found in Antarctica. The mysterious skeleton of a creature has been found on Google Maps in Antarctica in footage which has since gone viral. Dragons are imaginary and an invention of people, Is the novel. Unknown ancient people left the newly discovered fantastical creatures hewn of granite in Altai Mountains. The answer is fiction. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. An illustration shows an elasmosaur swimming through rough waters. Because the Canadian remains make up a partial skeleton, Habibs colleague Hone had enough material to place the pterosaur on the azhdarchid family tree. Guy Williams in a statement. The team drilled down around 1,640 feet (500 meters) below the ice's surface using a powerful hot-water hose to reach the underground chamber. (University of Tasmania) Despite the frigid temperatures, Williams estimated that the ocean was generating more than 1,000 to 1,500 watts per square. Schulp has worked on some plesiosaurs from the Netherlands, but he says the aquatic reptiles are very different in the Southern Hemisphere. The Antarctic Treaty prohibits many actions that could . Pippin is just a whole new level. Life Science Environment 'Strange creatures' found under Antarctica. The 15-ton elasmosaur adds to evidence that a vibrant marine ecosystem existed just before the dinosaur mass extinction. The "dragon," which roamed the earth 160 million years ago, has a long pointed tail, wings and sharp, protruding pointed teeth. A radar image of Thwaites from 2011 to 2017. All rights reserved. The flying reptile was said to have . The abdomen is divided into ten segments. Heres why each season begins twice. Not according to biology or history. 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 MrMBB333 host told viewers: "What youre about to see here is intact, very large skeletal remains. 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. In retrospect, that doesnt make them any less creepy. The discovery of what appear to be sponges in the pitch-black seawater beneath almost half a mile of ice has biologists baffled. Scientists just confirmed a 30-foot void first detected inside the monument years ago. Harry is a U.K.-based staff writer at Live Science. It wouldve been nice to have pictures accompanying this article. Scientists aboard the U.S. icebreaker research vessel Nathaniel B. Palmer recently sailed to an Antarctic polynya areas of open water that act as ice factories to study the process of ice formation during the autumn-winter season. A fossil from Antarctica is now the heaviest known animal in this group of prehistoric marine reptiles. Immediately, we'd get about 2 feet of sea level rise. However, the researchers also worry that even hidden ecosystems like this one may be at risk from rapidly warming temperatures caused by climate change. In late April 2020, two Chinese icebreakers made a port call in Shanghai to a large state media celebration. The flying reptile had a wingspan of at least 16 feet and may have grown to a wingspan of up to 33 feet, the size of its relative Quetzalcoatlus northropi. Their cold habitat has given them some interesting features. Predator as my only frame of reference with Antarctica, and have to remind myself that theres no underground temple housing such scary creatures. 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. Largest fish nursery discovered beneath Weddell Sea in Antarctica, 'Giant MRI of Antarctica' reveals 'fossil seawater' under ice sheet, Rare wispy ice formations streak across the sea near Antarctica in beautiful satellite image, 'Runaway' black hole the size of 20 million suns found speeding through space with a trail of newborn stars behind it, Artificial sweetener may increase risk of heart attack and stroke, study finds, 'Unreal' auroras cover Earth in stunning photo taken by NASA astronaut, Wreck of long-lost US World War II submarine found off Japanese coast. Rare 'Dragon-Skin' Ice Spotted During Antarctic Research Voyage By Kacey Deamer published May 10, 2017 Dragon skin occurs when strong winds continually lift surface ice, subsequently freezing. 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. Most of them were remnants of ancient marine creatures, or even the ancestors of modern-day ducks. But its identity remained unclear for decades because of a paleontological paradox: Quetzalcoatlus might be the best-known and worst-known azhdarchid all at once. Fossil 'sea monster' found in Antarctica was the heaviest of its kind The 15-ton elasmosaur adds to evidence that a vibrant marine ecosystem existed just before the dinosaur mass extinction. 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. Researchers drilled more than 1,600 feet under the Larsen Ice Shelf. Geologists taking sediment cores from the seafloor beneath the giant Filchner-Ronne Ice Shelf on the southern edge of Antarcticas Weddell Sea discovered what biologists believe are types of sponge. DRAGON FOUND is the first book in The Dragon Queen series and reminded me (in a good way) of Anne McCaffrey's Dragons of Pern - albeit a whole lot steamier and with more political backstabbing and intrigue. Some of these Antarctica scary facts have simple explanations, others not so much. The researchers had expected that the roof of the chamber would be smooth and flat. Small mobile animals such as shrimp and crustaceans called sea fleas have been seen before beneath ice shelves, but no one expected to see stationary animals like these. In addition, a small number of researchers have since gotten the chance to see the Quetzalcoatlus fossils up closeincluding Habib, who measured the bones to model how the creature flew. The different morphology of this species also shows that specialization was still happening at this late point in the existence of plesiosaurs. It would have flying in a landscape that would have been reasonably temperate but a hell of a lot warmer than central Alberta is now.. Such an interesting post, Anita. The remains of a dinosaur described as the "closest thing we have to a real-life dragon" has been unveiled in . Development of any resources found in Antarc-tica will be expensive. 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. The extremely cold water is full of animals such as Antarctic krill, a . The amber adds to fossil evidence that many dinosaurs. Scientists have found a tiny animal, Tullbergia, living under rocks in Antarctica's inland mountain peaks, where nothing should survive. In fact, the further north in latitude you go, the fewer dragonflies . How a zoo break-in changed the life of an owl called Flaco, Naked mole rats are fertile until they die, study finds. Heres the technology that helped scientists find itand what it may have been used for. 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. Rare 'Dragon Skin' Ice Found in Antarctica Is Intensely Beautiful. New York, She had electric blue eyes, and a chilling aura. Son Doong is the largest cave in the world, and also contains a number of large underground lakes. Associated mainly with wetland habitats such as ponds, lakes, rivers, bogs, and marshes, and usually thriving most in milder climates. Even more worrying to scientists beyond the cavern's existing is how quickly it appeared. Taissa Rodrigues, a paleontologist at Brazils Federal University of Esprito Santo who wasnt involved with the study, says that taking thin sections of Cryodrakon bones could reveal how the pterosaur grew from hatchling to adult. Youve got this weird situation where Quetzalcoatlus is basically the first azhdarchid to be named, so it becomes the definition of the [group], and yet theres no good description of it, says Hone, who describes the situation as a giant loop of not being able to solve the problem properly.. The flying reptile was mostly head and neckand had at least a 16-foot wingspan, if not bigger. Researchers discovered swarms of shrimplike amphipods while they were exploring an underground Antarctic river. NY 10036. While it is most likely some kind of big whale species, it still has a menacing, creepy air to it. It was caused due to millions of years of erosion, and it is not uncommon for mountains to have at least a partially pyramidal shape in various parts of the world. "This could be very, very old, going back to prehistoric Antartica. It could be a lot of different things. Though Q. northropi was described in 1975, only one of its limb bones got a detailed writeup; the scientists who oversaw the giants remains never got around to publishing the rest. The geologists used hot-water equipment to drill the borehole. The main reference fossil for Cryodrakon belonged to an individual pterosaur that had a roughly 16-foot wingspan. Plesiosaurs generally look a little like large manatees with giraffe necks and snake-like heads, though they have four flippers rather than a manatees three. Called " the ugliest creature beneath the waves ," the scotoplanes (scientific name) are what you get when you combine the terror of Cthulhu with the plump, pink and short-legged appearance of a piglet. Now scientists have learned why its collapsing so quickly: Theres a giant underground cavern in the glacier almost as big as Manhattan. The azhdarchids are also known for reaching immense sizes, none more so than Quetzalcoatlus. If youve seen Jurassic World, its the giant whale-like colossus from the feeding show. Related: Alarming heat waves hit Arctic and Antarctica at the same time. I did say there were some scary facts about Antarctica! "Antarcticais a very mysterious place. Visit our corporate site (opens in new tab). If you asked a friend, it would probably be the thing that sunk the Titanic in that famous DeCaprio movie. He is also interested in evolution, climate change, robots, space exploration, environmental conservation and anything that's been fossilized. Meteorites are easier to see on the white ice. YouTuber Michael Bradbury, who hosts the conspiracychannel MrMBB333, suggested that the skeleton remains indicated a dinosaur which had been preserved in the Antarctic ice. Site Powered by Pix & Hue. They were some kind of weird plesiosaurs that nobody knew.. October is coming up, and you just know social media will be flooded with Halloween posts even before the event. A Fish Equipped With Antifreeze. Two key advances offered a way off the Quetzalcoatlus merry-go-round. The formation may be . 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. I always think back to Alien vs. Heres how it works. Tullbergia seems to have persisted in the same place for . Know more about this news here by reading this article now! Antarctica is a continent located in the Southern Hemisphere and contains the coldest environment on earth. Unfortunately for any arachnophobes out there, Antarctica does have spiders, sort of. Can we bring a species back from the brink? 8 Spooky and Strange Things Found in Antarctica 1. 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. Its like you go out to Africa, and you find some giant cat toothits probably a really big lion, but without the rest of the lion attached to it, its a tooth!, Martin-Silverstone agrees with the cautious approach: I think theyre right that its an azhdarchid [neck] vertebraIve seen this specimen, and I completely agree that thats what it is, she says. Their eyes are compound -they consist of 24,000 ommatidia (or tiny eyes). These radar images are even capable of seeing through the ice to get a clear model of the glacier down to the bedrock. However, the scientists waited years to make sure that they had the right tools to remove this stuff from the ice without breaking it. (Image credit: Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies/University of Tasmania), Livescience.com-interesting-person-plain-button, Collapsing Beauty: Image of Antarctica's Larsen Ice Shelf. Its intact. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); I knew not of these creatures, nor, spooky happenings, in Antarctica. Blizzard had been tortured beyound belief by the SkyWings. Nearly 42,000 meteorites have been found in Antarctica by government funded expeditions, mainly by the U.S. and Japan. Copyright 2023 Anita Hendrieka. Most of these magnificent ice giants are either snow-capped and white, or have a clear turquoise color. 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. 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 researchers also unexpectedly discovered that the water column underground split into four or five distinct layers of water flowing in opposite directions. The way it flies - it's like it's hovering in mid-air, just like a dragon. 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. It was an adventure., Copyright 1996-2015 National Geographic SocietyCopyright 2015-2023 National Geographic Partners, LLC. The melting ice in Antarctica has revealed a skeleton of a mysterious creature - and the network believes it is a dinosaur. Regardless, sometimes you might get lucky and find some Antarctica mythical creatures. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. For 40 years, paleontologist Wann Langston worked off-and-on to complete the descriptionbut then he died in 2013, leaving the work unfinished. This caught the team off guard, as they had not expected to find any type of life this far below the icy surface. Heres the technology that helped scientists find itand what it may have been used for. The Maori monster Taniwha lives in the ocean but also lurks in the rivers, lakes, or watery caves of New Zealand. And when Habib, Hone, and Royal Tyrrell Museum paleontologist Franois Therrien compared the holes in the Canadian pterosaurs neck vertebrae against those for all other known azhdarchids, they found that its arrangement is unique. "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. They had expected the seafloor to be mud, but were dismayed when they hit a boulder, which meant they couldnt get the intended sediment samples. At the time, though, he didnt have the resources to excavate the fossil find, but he informed researchers in Argentina about the discovery. The Dragon's Breath cave is the largest non subglacial lake in the world. Now, this enormous species of giant pterosaur part of a group known as azhdarchids finally has a name: Cryodrakon boreas, drawing from the ancient Greek words that translate to "cold dragon of the north winds." When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. 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. 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 . Again, while it isnt the most immediately terrifying phenomenon, these crazy things found in Antarctica are still unnerving. 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. Tell us below which one of theweird things in Antarctica you are the most shocked about! OGorman, who was five years old when the fossil was discovered, went on the first of these trips starting in 2012. It was discovered in 1986 by the South African Speleological Association. Today, there are still accounts of reptilian monsters said to haunt and harass villages throughout the remaining corners of largely unexplored forests, mountains and oceans of the world. 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. 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. We use your sign-up to provide content in ways you've consented to and to improve our understanding of you. When the seawater freezes into ice, its salty brine is rejected and falls into the underlying water, making it very cold and dense. Eco-friendly burial alternatives, explained. One of the weird things about Antarctica is that its very good at preserving things the Endurance was found very well preserved thanks to Antarcticas cold waters. Something fascinating about their legendary predatory skills. 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 . By Dustin Nelson. Weird Google Earth images appear to show a giant "dome" rammed in the ice and it's sent conspiracy theorists wild. 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. They determined that the tunnels were most likely the result of meltwater flowing underneath the ice shelf. Its a huge area, but we have a tiny widow into it, Griffiths said. Future US, Inc. Full 7th Floor, 130 West 42nd Street, As detailed below the claim that the video shows a real dragon inside . Heres why each season begins twice. 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. Can we bring a species back from the brink?, Video Story, Copyright 1996-2015 National Geographic Society, Copyright 2015-2023 National Geographic Partners, LLC. 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? Come along for the ride! The international science expedition is slowly making its way through the Antarctica's sea ice en route to the Ross Sea. Gear-obsessed editors choose every product we review. 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. This genus, found in the Southern Hemisphere, is characterized by shorter necks and larger skulls. 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. "Seeing the effect of the Tongan volcano, which erupted thousands of kilometres away, was quite remarkable," Stevens said. Most of the 45,000 meteorites found in Antarctica over the past century have only weighed a few grams, The Independent noted. Heres the science, Related: See the Mystery and Beauty of Fossils. There are not, nor have there ever been actual dragons on Earth. That is what the katabatic winds are doing in the polynya, removing the ice, exposing the water and making more ice form.". .css-3wjtm9{-webkit-text-decoration:underline;text-decoration:underline;text-decoration-thickness:0.125rem;text-decoration-color:#1c6a65;text-underline-offset:0.25rem;color:inherit;-webkit-transition:all 0.3s ease-in-out;transition:all 0.3s ease-in-out;}.css-3wjtm9:hover{color:#595959;text-decoration-color:border-link-body-hover;}None of these are doing well, but one of themthe Thwaites Glacier in West Antarcticais rapidly crumbling. Antarctic researchers have shared images of the rarely seen scaly ice formation referred to as dragon ice. More work on Cryodrakon may help crack the mystery and add more clues to this large pterosaurs lifestyle. The scientists found the secret subterranean habitat tucked away beneath the Larsen Ice Shelf a massive, floating sheet of ice attached to the eastern coast of the Antarctic peninsula that famously birthed the world's largest iceberg in 2021. Published on 5/11/2017 at 1:25 AM. 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. Sure, it would be cool (no pun intended) for creepy things found in ice like this to have been created by some sort of mythological ice giants. One user said: "What looks like hands, fingers and feet and toes is whats hidden in its webbing. There is a 9- to 10-meter wingspan azhdarchid in this formation; whether or not thats exactly the same as the one weve described, you cant say 100-percent, Hone says. And work on the bones unearthed over the past few decades has just begun; now that they are housed in a museum, OGorman says there is a lot of other research that can be done on this ancient specimen. It wasnt until this year that researchers have found out that the waterfall springs from a lake trapped under the ice for over a million years! Well send you our daily roundup of all our favorite stories from across the site, from travel to food to shopping to entertainment. And for his part, OGorman seems thrilled with the whole experience: It was quite cold, and quite cool, too. The animal, when alive, would not have been a frozen dragon, notes study coauthor Mike Habib, a paleontologist at the University of Southern California. TheNathan B Palmer icebreaker research vessel is continuing an expedition near the south pole even as winter approaches and most research boats move toward warmer weather. Its definitely an indication that toward the end of the Cretaceous, [plesiosaurs] managed to expand their feeding repertoire, Schulp says. "It looked like a loaf of bread, with a bulge at the top and narrow slope at the bottom," Stevens said. But I would be much more conservative in saying its Cryodrakon, because, yeah, theres no features on that at all.. Great images too. ", Another remarked: "Google search for images of seal skeleton shows a pretty good match. 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There have been all sorts of things found in the arctic, from underground lakes and ancient fossils to prehistoric skeletons and enormous tunnels. Unauthorized use is prohibited. Using special radars, a British team of specialists discovered the tunnels while flying over West Antarctica.