Climate change lets the glaciers melt in many parts of the earth. In the case of the Tyndall glacier in the Chilean part of Patagonia, science benefits at least: 23 well-preserved fossils barg under the direction of Judith Pardo-Pérez from the University of Magallanes in the Torres National Park in the south of the country reports. Perhaps the most important find below is the first remains of a female ichthyosaur for Chile for the first time. The animal was also pregnant, as the remains of some fetuses.
The specimen, named "Fiona" and about four meters long, lived like the other excavated animals between 129 and 139 million years ago during the early Cretaceous period, when the region was still part of an ocean. "The results of the expedition have met and even exceeded all expectations," says Judith Pardo-Pérez, who was the first woman to lead such an expedition to the region. According to the working group, the pregnant ichthyosaur is also the first such find from the Valanginian-Hauterivian epoch of the Cretaceous period.
The 23 ichthyosaurs recovered so far from the site have been carefully removed by helicopter and are to be further examined at the museum. In addition to the biodiversity and paleobiology of the animals, their personal development will also be studied, for example, about their bone maturation, any changes in food preferences while they were growing.
“It is unique in the world that these incredible ichthyosaurs are so well preserved in an extreme environment that was uncovered by a back glacier. The considerable number of ichthyosaurs found in that area, including complete skeletons of adults, young animals and newborns, offers a unique window in the past, «says Dean Lomax from the University of Manchester, who was also involved in the excavation.
