Climate change is causing glaciers to melt in many parts of the world. In the case of the Tyndall Glacier in the Chilean part of Patagonia, science at least benefits from this: An expedition led by Judith Pardo-Pérez from the University of Magallanes in the Torres des Paine National Park in the south of the country recovered 23 well-preserved fossils, the working group reports. Perhaps the most important find among them is the complete remains of a female ichthyosaur, the first to be found in Chile. The animal was also still pregnant, as evidenced by the remains of some fetuses.
Dubbed “Fiona,” the approximately four-meter-long specimen lived like the other excavated animals 129 to 139 million years ago during the early Cretaceous period, when the region was still part of an ocean. “The results of the expedition 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.
The 23 ichthyosaurs recovered so far from the site were carefully transported by helicopter and are to be further examined in the museum. In addition to the diversity of species and the paleobiology of the animals, their personal development will also be studied, for example via their bone maturation and any changed food preferences as they grew.
“It is unique in the world that these incredible ichthyosaurs are so well preserved in an extreme environment exposed by a retreating glacier. The significant number of ichthyosaurs found in that area, including complete adult, juvenile and neonatal skeletons, offers a unique window into the past,” says Dean Lomax of the University of Manchester, who was also involved in the excavation.