Dinosaurs of Antarctica

Standing on the ice of Antarctica, it is hard to imagine a land full of dinosaurs. Almost 200 million years ago, the land was a lot different. There were no polar caps as we know them, but there were still periods of low light in the winter months. It was colder than the sections of Pangea near the Equator, but not covered in ice and snow as we see it today. There was most lush vegetation but mostly near the shores. It was definitely not a warm jungle, but more like Easter Island with dinosaurs. The weather was mild, but cooler in the interior regions. The oldest dinosaur bones were found in the inner mountain range.

We know that they had dinosaurs from every era. The mountains of the TransAntarctica Range revealed that they had dinosaurs in this part of Pangea since the time of the Dinosauromorphs. One of the first dinosauromorphs discovered was the Glacialisaurus. Dr. William Hammer found it in 1991 near the Hanson formation near the site of a Cryolophosaurus. The Glacialisaurus was an herbivore and the Cryolophosaurus was a carnivore. They were both from the Triassic age at an elevation of 13,000 ft, Glacialisaurus was a sauropodomorph and the Cryolophosaurus was a Therapod from a different branch. The interesting thing about these dinosaurs is that most of these dinosaurs are larger examples of their groups and families than their cousins found in South America, South Africa, and Asia. They give us a glimpse of what life was like in Antarctica during that time period. Interestingly enough, we haven't found that many fossils from the Jurassic period.

The next two dinosaurs discovered were found on James Ross Island just off of Antarctica. These two were actually juvenile examples of their kind, but even at this age, they proved to be larger than other dinosaurs in their groups. The Antarctopalta juvenile found was from the Ankylosaurian Group and was already 13 feet long. It was an armored herbivore with 10 mm teeth as opposed to their South American cousins with 7.5 mm teeth. They are also related to the Steguras.

The second dinosaur juvenile found on this island was the Trinisaurus. Not much is known about this species because of the lack of fossils. They are from the Ornithopod Genus and from the Cretaceous age, but we do know more about their Clade of Elasmaria. The Elasmaria were more famous from the continent of Gondwana when Antarctica, Australia, Africa, and Southeast Asia were joined. They are also the heaviest found of their group but from the same time period. It was thought that they might have been armored as well, but it turns out that it was just thinner cartilage. Even though the polar regions didn't have ice like they do today, they would have had colder winters from the lack of sunlight.

It shows that even though there aren't a lot of fossils found in Antarctica, there is a diversity showing that dinosaurs roamed from the Triassic period all the way to the Cretaceous Period. Probably if we had more expeditions looking for dinosaurs, they could find a bridge species from the Jurassic period. Technically, the Glacialisaurus lived into the early Jurassic period. However, they went the way of the dinosauromorphs and didn't have the capability to survive the Jurassic period. It is interesting to note that the earlier dinosaurs were found near the mountains and the youngest dinosaurs were found on the islands. Perhaps it explains the variation in climate on the bottom tip of Pangea. It has been suggested that they moved to warmer shores because the ocean was a lot warmer.