Scientists Find 'Monster' Fossil in Arctic
Posted on: Thursday, 5 October 2006, 15:00 CDT
Norwegian scientists report finding a treasure trove of fossils belonging to giant sea reptiles that once roamed the Arctic sea about 150 million years ago.
The fossils were uncovered on the Arctic island chain of Svalbard, about halfway between the Norwegian mainland and the North Pole, the BBC reported. The finds belong to two groups of extinct marine reptiles -- the plesiosaurs and the ichthyosaurs.
The scientists nicknamed one of the fossils The Monster because of its enormous size.
Paleontologists from the University of Oslo's Natural History Museum made the discovered in a remote part of Spitsbergen, the largest island in the Svalbard archipelago.
Jorn Harald Hurum, co-director of the dig, told the BBC he was taken aback by the sheer density of fossil remains in one area. You can't walk for more than (about 300 feet) without finding a skeleton, he said. That's amazing anywhere in the world.
Source: United Press International
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