A fossil forgotten for 40 years in a drawer has been identified as the first dinosaur bone ever discovered in Antarctica, researchers say. The specimen was originally collected in 1985 on James Ross Island during a British Antarctic Survey expedition, but was stored away in the collection in Cambridge after scientists were unsure what they had found. It has now been re-examined and confirmed as a tail vertebra from a Titanosaur, a group of long-necked plant-eating dinosaurs that included some of the largest creatures ever to walk the Earth. Dr. Mark Evans of the British Antarctic Survey rediscovered the fossil while reviewing archived specimens, noting its distinctive structure. He then called in experts from the Natural History Museum, where paleontologists confirmed its identity. “As soon as I saw it, I knew what we were dealing with… it was a dead cert we were dealing with a Titanosaur,” said Professor Paul Barrett told the BBC. Scientists estimate the animal was around 23 feet long, possibly a juvenile or unusually small adult, living about 82 million years ago when Antarctica was forested and far warmer than today.
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