Sign up here for our daily Thrillist email, and get your fix of the best in food/drink/fun. I did say there were some scary facts about Antarctica! It was discovered in 1986 by the South African Speleological Association. Hearst Magazine Media, Inc. All Rights Reserved. The researchers had expected that the roof of the chamber would be smooth and flat. For years it was a mystery we didnt know if they were elasmosaurs or not, says Jos OGorman, a paleontologist with the National Scientific and Technical Research Council of Argentina (CONICET) who is based at the Museum of La Plata near Buenos Aires. It resembles a shark, dragon, or whale, or a shapeshifter that can appear like. Why wetlands are so critical for life on Earth, Rest in compost? Guy Williams in a statement. You can see it for yourself at coordinates 63 256.73S 605732.38W on Google Earth. A radar image of Thwaites from 2011 to 2017. The attribution of "Rainbow Serpent" stems from the belief that rainbows appear when they move from one river or waterhole to occupy another. He is also interested in evolution, climate change, robots, space exploration, environmental conservation and anything that's been fossilized. Thwaites holds back a large portion of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet and a handful of nearby glaciers; if Thwaites disappears, we could see an additional eight feet of sea level rise from these sources, on top of the two feet from Thwaites itself. These things turned out to be over a ton of fossils on the James Ross Island, ranging from 71 to 67 million years old. The geologists were more than 150 miles from the open ocean when they bored a hole through the 3,000-foot-thick ice with a hot-water drill and lowered a coring device and a video camera into the dark seawater below it. She has previously reported for Mother Jones, the Reporter's Committee for Freedom of the Press, Neon Tommy and more. A gigantic "alien" face in Antarctica. Regardless, sometimes you might get lucky and find some Antarctica mythical creatures. Maybe not a spooky as the rest of the creepy facts about Antarctica on this list. One place I have not yet managed to get to maybe one day. 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. The remains, previously only ever found in North America, were. The azhdarchids are also known for reaching immense sizes, none more so than Quetzalcoatlus. Over 14,000 meteorites have been found in the Sahara Desert of northern Africa, most since 1995, mainly by nomads and private collectors. As a species, they are present all around the planet, and can be as small as 1 millimeter in size. The mysterious skeleton of a creature has been found on Google Maps in Antarctica in footage which has since gone viral. Again, while it isnt the most immediately terrifying phenomenon, these crazy things found in Antarctica are still unnerving. Two key advances offered a way off the Quetzalcoatlus merry-go-round. An illustration shows an elasmosaur swimming through rough waters. But again, as with many weird things found in Antarctica, the explanation is much simpler. 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. PACKING TIP: Dont leave home without a solar powered battery pack so you can keep your devices connected at all times. The bones bear scratches and an embedded tooth that appear to be from a scavenger, most likely a relative of Velociraptor. The wreck of Endurance has been found in the Antarctic, 106 years after the historic ship was crushed in pack ice and sank during an expedition by the explorer Ernest Shackleton. The Maori monster Taniwha lives in the ocean but also lurks in the rivers, lakes, or watery caves of New Zealand. When not at work he can be found watching sci-fi films, playing old Pokemon games or running (probably slower than he'd like). Meteorites are easier to see on the white ice. Dragonflies are widely spread throughout the world and can be found on every continent except Antarctica. "Imagine your standard ice-cube tray, filled once," Williams said in the announcement. Visit our corporate site (opens in new tab). 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. Son Doong is the largest cave in the world, and also contains a number of large underground lakes. 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. But if you empty and refill the tray each night, you get so much more," Williams said in a statement. How metal.. A mans world? They estimate that the as-yet-unnamed elasmosaur weighed between 11.8 tons and 14.8 tons, with a head-to-tail length of nearly 40 feet. Antarctica is still a relatively unexplored area on our planet. The secret ecosystem was found more than 1,600 feet below the surface. The MrMBB333 host told viewers: "What youre about to see here is intact, very large skeletal remains. This may include adverts from us and 3rd parties based on our understanding. However, the scientists waited years to make sure that they had the right tools to remove this stuff from the ice without breaking it. But if you empty and refill the tray each night, you get so much more. The red of our blood is caused by hemoglobin, which carries oxygen throughout our body. Fact Check: A video in circulation online since early 2015 claims to show a Real Dragon found Alive inside a Cave, caught on Camera. Know more about this news here by reading this article now! (Would the dinosaurs have died out if not for that asteroid? 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 . The largest meteorite discovered in Antarctica weighs 7.6 kilograms. Gear-obsessed editors choose every product we review. Not according to biology or history. 108K views 2 years ago When we think of Antarctica, we think of snow, clusters of wildlife and beautiful landscapes. Footage of the oddity was uploaded on the YouTube channel of MrMBB333 who regularly shares weird . The data comes from NASAs Operation IceBridge, a program that flies radar-equipped planes over the poles to map out glaciers and ice sheets in three dimensions. But now, scientists have finally unearthed the heaviest known elasmosaur, an ancient aquatic reptile that swam the seas of the Cretaceous period alongside the dinosaurs. Dec 29, 2021, 6:55 AM PST. I love these critters. Experts have long suspected that there is a vast network of rivers, lakes and estuaries underneath Antarctica, but until now these features have been poorly studied. Shocking Rituals From The Cannibal Indian Aghori Monks, 6 Incredible Europe Contiki Tours to Go On, 74 Underrated and Off The Beaten Path Places To Visit, How to Get From Tirana Airport to the City, 9 Easy Ways To Repurpose Podcast Content In 2023. Come along for the ride! The bodies of a 13-year-old girl, plus a. ", The YouTuber added:"I think this thing was frozen in time. There are not, nor have there ever been actual dragons on Earth. While the animals exact diet cant be known without fossilized stomach contents or other evidence, OGorman says that it likely fed on crustaceans and small fish, based on the small size of its teeth. Please be respectful of copyright. 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. 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. It takes a little more effort and logistics in the first place, and not just everyone stumbles into those fossils, agrees Anne Schulp, vertebrate paleontologist at Utrecht University in the Netherlands and the Naturalis Biodiversity Center who was not involved in the research. Well, theyre not actually spiders, but a type of primitive marine arthropod. The team thinks the newly described heavyweight belongs to the genus Aristonectes, a group whose species have been seen as outliers to other elasmosaurs, since they differed so much from fossilized specimens discovered in the U.S. Tullbergia seems to have persisted in the same place for . Now scientists have learned why its collapsing so quickly: Theres a giant underground cavern in the glacier almost as big as Manhattan. There are still animals out there that can break the rules that we have written for them.. A Fish Equipped With Antifreeze. Copyright 2023 Anita Hendrieka. The near-perfect skeleton remains were located in a remote inland area of Antarctica. Live Science is part of Future US Inc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. Which travel companies promote harmful wildlife activities? When it was walking on the ground, as azhdarchids often did, it was more than eight feet tall at the shoulder, roughly the same height as some giraffes. Find out which creatures belonged in this group, how they grew to incredible sizes, and how they've captivated both scientists and storytellers alike. The fossil was found in a quarry just northwest of Richmond in June 2011 by Len . Live Science is part of Future US Inc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. October is coming up, and you just know social media will be flooded with Halloween posts even before the event. In order to survive, the organisms would have to feed on floating material from other animals or plants, because it is impossible for plants to photosynthesize in the sunless seawater. 8 Spooky and Strange Things Found in Antarctica 1. What if we could clean them out? Satellite photos showed an unusual groove in the ice shelf close to where it met with the land, and researchers identified the peculiar feature as a subsurface river, which they described in a statement (opens in new tab). The researchers set up camp a couple of days before the record-shattering eruption of the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Haapai volcano in Tonga on Jan. 15. 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. The remnants come from the final days of the dinosaurs on Earth, so these strange things in Antarctica are quite an amazing sight to see today! But the real danger is what happens after. 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. Flat-earthers believe that the North Pole is at the center of the world while the South Pole surrounds the Earth. 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. Bryozoans found in the habitat. Unless you get to scary Antarctica where Polar Gigantism is a thing. According to a study published in Frontiers in Marine Science, researchers have discovered a massive living world below Antarctica's icy surface that could be as big as 5 million square. Unfortunately for any arachnophobes out there, Antarctica does have spiders, sort of. Its intact. Their cold habitat has given them some interesting features. . Initially, the team thought their equipment was faulty. Rare find'. The video was titled 'Antarctica Melting Ice MAY have revealed ANCIENT skeletal remains fully INTACT! Sea Pigs H.P. "Seeing the effect of the Tongan volcano, which erupted thousands of kilometres away, was quite remarkable," Stevens said. Please be respectful of copyright. By The Siberian Times reporter . The mysterious skeleton of a creature has been found on Google Maps in Antartica, The YouTuber shows the creatures front and rear limbs, as the curve of its spine and its skull, The YouTuber proceeds to analyse the skeleton, before concluding that it could be an ancient dinosaur, Stonehenge builders branded just as clever as us, Dinosaur discovery: Found fossils may be largest land animal, MrMBB333 has previously posted videos of 'mysterious' Google Maps in Antarctica, BBC's correspondent predicts leadership chaos even after CDU vote, Stunning backlash grows in revolt over EU's vaccine rollout, Prince William 'concerned' that Harry is trying to 'exploit' Diana, Space law: Is first step of alien constitution being prepared, Area 51 images show strange structure inside an open hangar, Solar flares study: Activity might not preclude existence of life. 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! The researchers also unexpectedly discovered that the water column underground split into four or five distinct layers of water flowing in opposite directions. It was only in 1773 that an expedition led by Captain James Cook crossed the Antarctic Circle. 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. All 154 people on board survived after being rescued by nearby vessels. Lovecraft would have probably loved to see this interesting creature. As such, Cez and Agness of eTramping were kind enough to provide some spooky, puzzling and altogether creepy things found in Antarctica. They were some kind of weird plesiosaurs that nobody knew.. Its huge expanses of white winterland are full of. Associated mainly with wetland habitats such as ponds, lakes, rivers, bogs, and marshes, and usually thriving most in milder climates. You can unsubscribe at any time. Development of any resources found in Antarc-tica will be expensive. The find came months after NASA successfully destroyed a 530-foot-wide . There are not, nor. The weather controls all. Discovered in 2010 in Montanas famed Hell Creek Formation of the late Cretaceous, the 40-foot-long fossil took four years to excavate and prepare. (GiMa38 / CC BY-SA 4.0 ) Accounts of Reptilian Monsters in Modern-Day New Guinea . The climate of Antarctica can vary depending on where you are and the time of the season. The different morphology of this species also shows that specialization was still happening at this late point in the existence of plesiosaurs. If you make a purchase through these links, at no extra cost to you, I will earn a small commission (for which I am very grateful). Although the alleged Dragon creature in the video is not visible clearly in the blurry and dark footage, the video has been shared quite often. Dinosaurs once foraged beneath the Southern Lights in Antarctica By Howard Falcon-Lang Royal Holloway, London It may be hard to believe, but Antarctica was once covered in towering forests. True to their name, the Antarctic Icefish lives in the icy cold waters of the Arctic and has icy-looking blood to match. This nearly whole, deep-black skull belongs to the most complete specimen of Tyrannosaurus rex on display in Europe, an individual nicknamed Tristan Otto. "I would guess this is somewhere in the region of 15 to 20ft. Nightjars are found all around the world, with the exception of Antarctica and certain island groups such as the Seychelles. By Garreth / November 21, 2021. I wouldnt find it creepy being on the bottom (or top) of the Earth, but some of those things Ive never heard of (sea spiders, striped icebergs) would give me chills. The team's research has more important ends in mind, but the images of dragon ice are a reminder that there is beauty to be found even in the harshest regions on the planet. By Dustin Nelson. And for his part, OGorman seems thrilled with the whole experience: It was quite cold, and quite cool, too. Glad to know that your list of spooky things is as far as it goes (or is it?). Scientists have found microplasticssmall plastic debris about the size of a sesame seedin freshly fallen snow in Antarctica for the first time. In the meantime, North American paleontologists have been caught in a catch-22. She has been put through hell and come out the other side . Nearly 42,000 meteorites have been found in Antarctica by government funded expeditions, mainly by the U.S. and Japan. New Moai statue that 'deified ancestors' found on Easter Island, Lab-grown minibrains will be used as 'biological hardware' to create new biocomputers, scientists propose, Ancient Roman 'spike defenses' made famous by Julius Caesar found in Germany, 'Building blocks of life' recovered from asteroid Ryugu are older than the solar system itself, The ultimate action-packed science and technology magazine bursting with exciting information about the universe, Subscribe today and save an extra 5% with checkout code 'LOVE5', Engaging articles, amazing illustrations & exclusive interviews, Issues delivered straight to your door or device. 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. formed in Antarctica, just as they have on adjacent continents once connected to Antarctica, but be-cause nearly 98 percent of the continent is covered by ice, few mineral deposits are likely to be exposed. The groundbreaking promise of cellular housekeeping. 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. These skeletons may have the answer, Scientists are making advancements in birth controlfor men, Blood cleaning? It could be a lot of different things. 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. Researchers needed a more complete specimen, and as it happened, William Zinsmeister of Purdue University had discovered a potential candidate on Seymour Islandjust south of the northern tip of the Antarctic Peninsuladuring a 1989 expedition. The video has recorded nearly 300,000 views, sparking fierce debate among conspiracy theorists online. The difference is that you can actually see something resembling them on Google Earth (coordinates 795839.25S 815732.21W). The abdomen is divided into ten segments. All Rights Reserved. ", Another remarked: "Google search for images of seal skeleton shows a pretty good match. A huge skull discovered in China may be a new human species: Dragon Man. YouTube channel Third Phase of Moon shared the anomaly back in August, sent to them by a viewer. Heres how it works. As a point of comparison, Habib visited Canadas Royal Tyrrell Museum to see the partial pterosaur skeleton dug up in 1992, whose limb bone is among the best preserved in the world. Dragons are imaginary and an invention of people, Is the novel. Read my disclaimerfor more information. But what was most intresting about her was that she could see Antarctica, something no other dragon could do. The Nathaniel B. Palmer expedition is currently at "ground zero" of a katabatic wind event, Williams said, with hurricane-strength gusts topping 75 miles per hour (120 km/h). We dont have a skull, but we have a lot of pieces of the specimen, OGorman says. They published . 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 . Researchers drilled more than 1,600 feet under the Larsen Ice Shelf. Thanks for sharing. Was an ancient species of dragon found living in Antarctica? The answer is fiction. 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. (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. 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. The bloblike protrusions seen in the right of the video are clearly a type of sponge, while the stalked creatures on the left are similar to some other sponges found near the Antarctic, he said. There have been all sorts of things found in the arctic, from underground lakes and ancient fossils to prehistoric skeletons and enormous tunnels. However, sceptics were quick to claim that the remains look like a seal. 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.. That guy is big! Schulp says from looking at photos of the bones. .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. NY 10036. 18 Antarctica's Blood Falls. In fact, the further north in latitude you go, the fewer dragonflies . One of the most exciting discoveries is the HMS Endurance, a ship that belonged to explorer Ernest Shackleton that sank in 1915. Follow Kacey on Twitter. Video shows discovery of sea-sponges living nearly half a mile beneath Antarctica ice. The sea spiders rock! The remains of a dinosaur described as the "closest thing we have to a real-life dragon" has been unveiled in . Schulp has worked on some plesiosaurs from the Netherlands, but he says the aquatic reptiles are very different in the Southern Hemisphere. After drilling out the borehole, the scientists lowered a sediment corer and an attached video camera through the ice shelf. And their immense patience in waiting for a meal to come to them. Tell us below which one of theweird things in Antarctica you are the most shocked about! The discovery of Cryodrakon means North America was home to at least two genera of large azhdarchids, expanding our knowledge of ancient diversity and how the worlds largest flying creatures eked out a living. YouTuber Michael Bradbury, who hosts the conspiracy channel MrMBB333,. (University of Tasmania) Despite the frigid temperatures, Williams estimated that the ocean was generating more than 1,000 to 1,500 watts per square. In the icy badlands of Alberta, paleontologists have found a "frozen dragon": a new genus of pterosaur that once soared over the heads of dinosaurs with a wingspan that stretched at least 16. How a zoo break-in changed the life of an owl called Flaco, Naked mole rats are fertile until they die, study finds. But the question of how these animals get food will have to wait until another scientific expedition can visit the spot, perhaps equipped with a remotely operated underwater vehicle that can recover samples of the animals. Long COVID patients turn to unproven treatments, Why evenings can be harder on people with dementia, This disease often goes under-diagnosedunless youre white, This sacred site could be Georgias first national park, See glow-in-the-dark mushrooms in Brazils other rainforest, 9 things to know about Holi, Indias most colorful festival, Anyone can discover a fossil on this beach. The excavation finally finished in 2017, yielding a substantial portion of the animals skeleton, which OGorman and his colleagues describe in their recent paper in Cretaceous Research. The partial skeleton that defines Cryodrakon was dug up from Canadas Dinosaur Provincial Park in 1992. The wall stops everything from falling over the edge of the Earth. Antarctica hasnt been doing so well lately. The discovery of what appear to be sponges in the pitch-black seawater beneath almost half a mile of ice has biologists baffled. Image: British Antarctic Survey. But I would be much more conservative in saying its Cryodrakon, because, yeah, theres no features on that at all.. By KAI GENG Unauthorized use is prohibited. ", JUST IN:Stonehenge builders branded just as clever as us. Future analyses could even peer deeper inside the pterosaurs bones. The 'dragon-skin' ice in Antarctica researchers warn is a sign of 'dark chaos' in the planet's frozen oceans. The 'Dragon-skin' ice is very rare and has not been spotted in Antarctica since 2007 . He then zoomed in on the neck vertebra, whose ends are shot through with pneumatophores, the holes through which air sacs once entered the bones interior. 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. However, the researchers also worry that even hidden ecosystems like this one may be at risk from rapidly warming temperatures caused by climate change. H.P. mostly around freshwater locations. It is the southernmost continent and is where the South Pole is located. Allan Hills 84001 (ALH84001) is a fragment of a Martian meteorite that was found in the Allan Hills in Antarctica on December 27, 1984, by a team of American meteorite hunters from the ANSMET project. But there is so much more. The Southern Hemisphereat least the plesiosaurscould definitely use some attention, he says. The stripes color can be blue, black, or green. A mans world? Its amazing, she says, just to see how far were going., Copyright 1996-2015 National Geographic SocietyCopyright 2015-2023 National Geographic Partners, LLC. The ultimate action-packed science and technology magazine bursting with exciting information about the universe, Subscribe today and save an extra 5% with checkout code 'LOVE5', Engaging articles, amazing illustrations & exclusive interviews, Issues delivered straight to your door or device. A BONKERS conspiracy theorist claims to have found the skeleton of a "mysterious" creature on Google Earth. The explorer in me thinks that there must still be plenty more to find! ", 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.