The complete fossil of a pregnant ichthyosaur female with several embryos in her womb was recovered from a melting Patagonian glacier.
'Fiona', this is the name given to the ancient dolphin-like marine reptile, was 4 meters long and swam in the Cretaceous seas between 129 and 139 million years ago.
Discovered in 2009 in an extremely inaccessible area, it has only now been recovered thanks to a helicopter during a daring expedition conducted among pumas and adverse weather conditions by an international research group led by the University of Magallanes in Chile.
The site is located in the Tyndall Glacier area, within the Torres del Paine National Park, and can only be reached by land on foot or on horseback in about ten hours.
The expedition of researchers lasted 31 days and allowed to find the remains of another 23 specimens of ichthyosaur.
"The results of the expedition went beyond expectations," says paleontologist Judith Pardo-Pérez who led the group.
From the fossils found "we hope to obtain information on the diversity and paleobiology of the ichthyosaurs of the Tyndall Glacier. We also hope to establish the degree of maturity of the bones and ecological niches to evaluate the possible changes in the diet that have occurred during their evolution and which can help to establish paleobiogeographic connections with ichthyosaurs of other latitudes ".
