Many things buried and preserved in the ice have been discovered. From animals to objects, ice preserves these in conditions rarely seen. Here are 10 discoveries made in the depths of the ice.
10. The frozen fox
Sometimes the animals that scientists find in the ice are more contemporary. And that makes sense: modern animals can freeze in ice just like those that existed at the time.
This creature was found by a hunter in a German lake. This specimen was not the first one found by this hunter. He also claims to have found a wild deer and wild boar before this fox. Now, we don’t know if that’s true, but what we do know is that the fox must be displayed as an Arctic appendix in a German hotel.
9. Living in the ice?
Sometimes what scientists find in the ice is not even dead. Indeed, these discoveries may be the result of normal changes in the environment. Some alligators, for example, can survive in ice throughout a freezing and dangerous winter.
For whatever reason, their physiology allows them to preserve their internal organs in icy and frozen waters. Where you or I could succumb to frostbite and die, an alligator could live – or at least survive.
8. Aircraft on ice
Scientists also found the remains of an aircraft crashed into the ice. In 1952, a military aircraft bound for Anchorage, Alaska, crashed into a glacier.
The accident killed 41 passengers and 11 crew members. But as the conditions were very dangerous (as is the case with glaciers), the police and rescuers were unable to recover any of the debris. It took 50 years of melting ice for a rescue mission to follow.
7. The law of nature
Here we have an interesting result: a frozen fish eating another fish. It is surprising to note that the water had become so cold so quickly that the animals in it had frozen almost immediately. And what is even more surprising is that an ice fisherman was able to retrieve the specimen.
6. Frozen lighthouse
Sometimes the cold is so intense that it can freeze the surrounding architecture. This is actually a common phenomenon in Michigan, which is quite surprising. This lighthouse is proof of that! Its spiral staircase is clearly frozen and probably unattended. In fact, this mysterious lighthouse had to face freezing temperatures.
5. A dinosaur mummy
Some of the things we find in ice go far beyond the familiar woolly mammoth or tiger. In this case, we have a discovery that revealed another way in which Ice Age animals defended themselves.
This animal, the nodosaurs, was found and dated to be about 110 million years old, located in the middle of the Cretaceous. It was a time of intense predation when if animals were to survive, they would have to implement complete defensive methods. In the case of the nodosaur, it had to grow ears of corn and armor.
4. An unforgettable dive
These birds were just trying to find food for themselves. Unfortunately, after a sudden dive below the surface of the water, the animals suffered from freezing and succumbed to it.
3. Mammoth brain
One of the strangest things these scientists found in the ice is the brain of a woolly mammoth. The mammoth was not found in a patch of ice, but rather in abandoned permafrost on the coast of the Laptev Sea.
It is one of the only preserved mammoth species whose brains are intact to date. The specimen is about 39,000 years old, which makes the discovery even more spectacular. Unfortunately, the small mammoth was only a child between the ages of six and nine.
2. Frozen puppies
Sometimes scientists find something a little closer to home. In this case, they found an Ice Age puppy in the ice. Although the animal was not as well conserved as other Ice Age specimens, it was surprisingly well conserved. Scientists have dated this puppy to about 12,460 years old.
1. Copper arrowhead
This copper arrowhead was found in a plate of ice. And what’s so amazing about a copper arrowhead? She suggests that ancient culture included metallurgy. But even more interesting, this arrowhead was barbed wire and made like modern hooks. In other words, this style of armament tells us that the company had relatively advanced technology at the time.