1 / 3

Melting glacier allows researchers to make ‘exceptional’ prehistoric discovery

Marianne Mizera

Mon, May 16, 2022, 12:32 PM·5 min read

https://news.yahoo.com/melting-glacier-allows-researchers-exceptional-193254421.html

The “exceptional” 130-million-year-old fossilized remains of a pregnant ichthyosaur with several fully intact embryos have been unearthed in Chile, a first-of-its-kind prehistoric discovery on the planet.

A melting glacier in Torres del Paine National Park in the Patagonia region slowly revealed the treasure: A 13-foot-long fossilized marine creature, nicknamed Fiona by scientists.

The fossil dates to the Early Cretaceous Period, between 129 million and 139 million years ago, when the mighty brachiosaurus roamed the Earth. Fiona is the only pregnant female ever recorded from the Valanginian-Hauterivian geologic era.

“So it’s incredibly important,” said paleontologist Judith Pardo-Pérez, who discovered the ichthyosaur and led the expedition for the University of Magallanes.

– ADVERTISEMENT –

https://s.yimg.com/rq/darla/4-10-1/html/r-sf-flx.html

The magnitude of the expedition was undeniable.

Pardo-Pérez first discovered the fossil in 2009 deep in the Tyndall Glacier area. However, it would take her more than a decade to actually carry out the arduous task of retrieving the fully preserved species due to the fossil’s remote location and the challenging terrain as well as the rather harsh climate.

A close-up of one of the fossilized intact embryos of the ichthyosaur unearthed in Chile in March-April 2022. (Photo via Reuters)

But the mission finally got underway in March of this year with the help of the Chilean National Agency for Research and Development, and an international team of paleontologists was assembled from Chile, Argentina, Germany and the United Kingdom.

The researchers called it an “intense” 31 days that wrapped up in April as a helicopter carefully lifted Fiona from her ancient seabed.

“In a month of fieldwork, we managed to get the most complete ichthyosaur from the southern tip of America to the world in two helicopter flights,” said paleontological excavator Héctor Ortiz, of the Chilean Antarctic Institute and the University of Chile, who, along with the other scientists, discussed details of the expedition last week.Story continues