The Discovery of Dinosaur Fossils in Antarctica :: Anthropology Essays Paleontology Papers

The Discovery of Dinosaur Fossils in Antarctica While working in Antarctica, two separate research teams with hundreds of miles between them each made astounding discoveries. They discovered dinosaur fossils. Antarctica has been home to many other dinosaur fossil finds but what was so special about these fossils is that they were from an unknown species of dinosaurs. Really what the discovery compliments is that the discovery of these fossils encourages the theory of plate tectonics and continental drift. Antarctica now is a baron frozen continent with little life. 170 million years ago it was a more habitable environment because was oriented at a different location on earth. The two new species of dinosaurs were that of a meat-eater and a plant-eater. The meat-eater was found on an ancient island the used to be covered by sea and the plant-eater was discovered on the slopes of a mountain that is 13,000 feet high but probably a riverbed at the time when this dinosaur roamed the earth. This discovery not only shows how continental drift and plate tectonics helped the dinosaurs move but also the discovery of two new species of dinosaur. These discoveries will help us further our knowledge of what happened to the dinosaurs. What the article seems to find most striking is the locale of where the dinosaur’s fossils was found. The fossils of the plant-eater date back to 170 million years ago. The scientists think that the mountain was probably a riverbed or a soft mound. It was not even close to the 13,000 feet that shoots up from the surface of earth almost touching the sky today. On the other hand the meat-eater who was found a rocky island was thought to be killed by rising seas. This dinosaur’s bones date back to about 70 million years ago. This discovery is so important to the scientific community because the plant-eating dinosaur dates back to 170 million years ago. This is when the dinosaurs first started to rule that animal kingdom. These fossils might prove to be useful in learning more about where and what the dinosaurs came from. They could figure out who they evolved from. The other dinosaur comes from around a mass extinction caused by an unknown object form space. By researchin g these fossils it might help us to see what happened and how the environment changed to completely wipe out the entire race of dinosaurs.