Beasts from the cold!

A research group from the university of Oregon has discovered footprints nearby the Beardmore Glacier (83°45′S, 171°00′E), distant only 650km from the southpole, on the frozen continent of Antarctica.

The fossils rappresents the tracks of early reptils, and also mammal-like reptils, dated to the lower Trias, some 250 Ma ago. Also in the Victoria-territory, an other kind of so called ichnofossils were found, similar to the first, but much smaller. The new found imprints shows similarities to fossils found in sediments from the transition Permian-Trias of Southafrica.