8 August 2025 The Future is the Product of the Past

Paleontologists Unearth 139 Million-Year-Old Pregnant Dinosaur Fossil in Chile

Archeologists in Chile have unearthed the fossilized remains of a 13ft-long pregnant ichthyosaur from a melting glacier -marking the first time a complete ichthyosaur has been found in the country.

The 139-million-year-old fossil was carefully collected by helicopter following an expedition in March and April this year by the University of Magallanes (UMAG) in the Tyndall Glacier area of Chilean Patagonia.

Named ‘Fiona’ by scientists at the University of Manchester, the 139-million-year-old fossil died when she was pregnant and still had several embryos in her belly.

Ichthyosaurs were marine reptiles that lived in the age of dinosaurs, and Fiona is the only pregnant female of Valanginian-Hauterivian age – between 129 and 139 million years old from the Early Cretaceous period – to be excavated on the entire planet.

Dr. Dean Lomax, a paleontologist working on the study, said: ‘The fact that these incredible ichthyosaurs are so well preserved in an extreme environment, revealed by a retreating glacier, is unlike anywhere else in the world.

The remains of the creature, which researchers from the University of Manchester have named Fiona, were unearthed from a melting glacier deep in the Patagonia.
The remains of the creature, which researchers from the University of Manchester have named Fiona, were unearthed from a melting glacier deep in Patagonia. Photo: University Of Manchester

‘The considerable number of ichthyosaurs found in the area, including complete skeletons of adults, juveniles, and newborns provides a unique window into the past.’

Now, researchers are keen to find out what information they can gather from the incredibly rare find.

Fiona was first found in 2009 by Dr. Judith Pardo-Pérez, a Magellanic paleontologist and UMAG researcher.

The team hopes to compare the ichthyosaurs found in the Tyndall Glacier with those previously found in Chilean Patagonia.

Collecting this specimen was not easy, as the glacier is within a 10-hour hike or horseback ride. The expedition lasted 31 days and was described by the researchers as an ‘almost titanic challenge.’

‘At four meters long, complete, and with embryos in gestation, the excavation will help to provide information on its species, on the palaeobiology of embryonic development, and on a disease that affected it during its lifetime,’ said Dr. Judith Pardo-Perez, who led the study.

Alongside Fiona, 23 other new specimens were discovered during the expedition, making the Tyndall Glacier the most abundant ichthyosaur graveyard in the world, according to the team.

ichthyosaurs
Ichthyosaurs.

Alongside Fiona, 23 other new specimens were discovered during the expedition, making the Tyndall Glacier the most abundant ichthyosaur graveyard in the world, according to the team.

Fiona will now be prepared in the paleontology laboratory of the Río Seco Natural History Museum in Punta Arenas, where it will be temporarily stored for later exhibition.

University Of Manchester

Related Articles

Unique Gold Artefacts of Thracian Horseman Found in Bulgaria

23 August 2024

23 August 2024

The Topolovgrad Municipality posted on its Facebook page on Wednesday that during excavations at the site of a Thracian warrior’s...

Astonishing discovery in Kazakhstan: Bronze Age girl buried with more than 150 animal ankle bones

7 September 2023

7 September 2023

Archaeologists in eastern Kazakhstan have unearthed a Bronze Age burial mound of a girl surrounded by various grave goods in...

Poseidon Temple in Greece Larger than Previously Assumed

27 January 2024

27 January 2024

New excavations at Kleidi-Samikon in Greece’s Western Peloponnese show that the temple, discovered in 2022, is more monumental than previously...

Four-face ivory dice found at Keezhadi excavation site in India

18 February 2022

18 February 2022

The Tamil Nadu Archaeological department along with the Archaeological Survey of India has unearthed rectangular ivory dice,  in the excavation...

Archaeologists Discovered a Fragmentary Inscription in Cypriot Syllabary Found Dating to the Cypro-Archaic Period

1 December 2024

1 December 2024

During excavations at Palaepaphos, located within the municipal boundaries of the modern village of Kouklia-Martsello on the southwest coast of...

Gravitational Wave Researchers Shed New Light on the Mystery of the 2,000-Year-Old Computer Antikythera Mechanism

28 June 2024

28 June 2024

Astronomers from the University of Glasgow who specialize in studying tiny ripples in space-time have shed new light on the...

Analysis Of Roman Coins sheds light on the Roman financial crisis

17 April 2022

17 April 2022

New scientific analysis of the composition of Roman denarii has brought fresh understanding to a financial crisis briefly mentioned by...

The Historical Building Next To The Million Stone Will Sell

6 February 2021

6 February 2021

Everyone has heard of the Million Stone, which was built during the Byzantine Empire and accepted as the zero points...

Human remains found at prison sewer site are 4,500 years old in East Yorkshire

26 March 2024

26 March 2024

Archaeologists investigating the site of a new sewer to serve a jail being built at Full Sutton in East Yorkshire,...

Nine Ancient Patolli Games Found in Mexico

10 September 2024

10 September 2024

In recent rescue excavations in Mexico by archaeologists from the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) nine patolli engravings...

An amateur archeologist has discovered a Roman war site

1 November 2021

1 November 2021

Thanks to the insistence of an amateur archaeologist, a Roman battlefield in Switzerland has been identified. Shortly before the birth...

‘Mystery and Unfathomable’ King Arthur’s Hall is 4,000 Years Older Than Previously Thought

10 November 2024

10 November 2024

A mysterious monument in Cornwall has been discovered to be 5,000 years old—4,000 years older than previously thought. The rectangular...

Washi papers discovered inside a 675-year-old Buddhist statue in Japan

3 February 2024

3 February 2024

The carved head of an ancient Buddhist statue hidden in the Myooin temple in Fukuyama, Hiroshima, Japan, has revealed pages...

Unprecedented Large Burial Urns in the Amazon May Reveal a Previously Unknown Indigenous Tradition

21 June 2025

21 June 2025

A remarkable archaeological discovery in the heart of the Amazon—seven giant funerary urns buried beneath a fallen tree—is offering fresh...

Roman-era marble sundial found for the first time in Turkey’s second Ephesus

26 September 2022

26 September 2022

Archaeologists have unearthed a Roman-era marble sundial in the ancient city of Aizanoi in the Çavdarhisar district of Kütahya province...