Scientists were thrilled to discover stationary animals like sponges, along with other unidentified animals, such as barnacles or hydroids
Scientists and geologists were baffled when they discovered primary signs of animal life in the extreme climate of Antarctica. When researchers pushed a small camera beneath half a mile of the floating Antarctic ice, they were surprised to find bizarre stationary creatures beneath the dark surface, miles away from nutrients and sunlight.
According to reports, geologists drilled a small hole inside the Filchner-Ronne ice shelf on the southern edge of Antarctica’s Weddell Sea and sent their camera down to check the seabed mud. However, they hit a boulder and were thrilled to discover stationary animals like sponges, along with other unidentified animals, such as barnacles or hydroids
“It was a bit of a disappointment to them – they’d spent weeks getting there and it didn’t work, But for [biologists], it is amazing because no one has ever seen these [organisms] before,” Marine scientist Huw Griffiths from the British Antarctic Survey was quoted as saying by NBC
In the prior researches, scientists had found only mobile animals like shrimps living beneath the extreme surface, it is the first time in history that they found stationary animals surviving on the rocks.
Interestingly, scientists are trying to discover how are these micro-organisms preparing their food in the hostile environment, far away from sunlight and other nutrients, required for photosynthesis.
“There are still things that we have to learn, there are still animals out there that can break the rules that we have written for them,” Griffiths said