Dinosaurs survived a freezing dark land in Australia-Antarctica 120 million years ago

Dinosaurs once dominated Earth for millions of years before an asteroid wiped them off. They were everywhere, even in the coldest regions of the planet. A new study has revealed how dinosaurs once thrived in southern Australia, which was once a part of the polar circle, an area that today is not deemed fit for human survival.

It was extremely cold and frigid, yet the dinosaurs managed to survive, as fossilised bones have shown. A study has shed light on the environment they inhabited and how they lived in the chilly place that saw no light for months.

Dinosaurs lived in the dark and cold Australia

Around 120 million years ago, southern Australia was part of a supercontinent which also comprised Antarctica. What is today Victoria once lay 80 degrees south of the equator. The place remained dark for months, and no need to say, it was extremely cold. Still, dinosaurs managed to make it their home.

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Vera Korasidis, co-author of the study, said, "What is now Victoria was located within the polar circle, up to 80 degrees south of the equator, and was shrouded in darkness for months on end." Korasidis is a lecturer in environmental geoscience at the University of Melbourne and carried out the research with Barbara Wagstaff, a specialist in pollen and spores.

Scientists have constructed the ecosystem of this place 120 million years ago, during the Cretaceous period. They analysed nearly 300 samples of microscopic pollen and spores from 48 sites to learn what kind of plants grew at this time. Two species of dinosaurs thrived in Victoria - small herbivorous ornithopods and theropods, primarily carnivorous.

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The study found that these dinosaurs lived in a cool-temperate forest, with towering conifers shrouding it from the top. Primitive plants like scaly ferns, forked ferns, and other early fern species were spread on the surface. Rivers helped life thrive, both for dinosaurs and the vegetation.

Earth started warming 113 million years ago

The researchers also learned the time it started getting warmer. This happened around 113 million years ago, when flowering plants started to gain root, changing the ecosystem. They replaced the ferns and spread across the region. This changed what the herbivorous dinosaurs ate

Just when the flowering plants started making an appearance, the forest structure also witnessed a broader transformation. By around 100 million years ago, things had changed drastically. Flowering plants were everywhere in the forest. Experts think this happened because the planet had started heating up, and there were high levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.