Massive New Dino Found in Antarctica

Smith said this "tells us that animals that probably had overlapping ecological roles were present in the same environment. Either these groups were directly competing with each other for resources, or they somehow occupied slightly different niches within the environment."

That environment, and climate, was very different than it is today, said Thomas Wagner, program director of Antarctic Earth Sciences at the National Science Foundation (NSF), which supported the research.

Then warmer, Antarctica's Early Jurassic climate likely supported ultra-tall trees that sauropodomorphs, like giraffes on steroids, were adept at eating.

Positioned further north, the continent was also then connected to other landmasses.

Wagner described Antarctica as a Jurassic "freeway," since "it was the route by which dinosaurs and mammals moved from places like Africa to Australia. Then, once it broke away, it may have been a refuge, albeit a cold one."

Even back in G. hammeri's day, Wagner said Antarctica would have forced the dinosaur and its relatives to endure "a long, cold, dark winter, yet similar animals lived in places like China."

"How did they do that?" he wondered.

Both Wagner and Smith hope lengthier fieldwork in Antarctica might solve this question, as well as other dinosaur mysteries concerning the planet's southernmost continent.

Related Links:

Jennifer Viegas' blog: Born Animal

U.S. Antarctic Program

The Saurischian Dinosaurs

Fossils from Mesozoic-Era Antarctica