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It was winter at the South
Pole. Here and there, pale streaks of moonlight broke through the trees to touch
the forest floor. Even in such dim light, the young Leallynasaura (lee-EL-in-a-SAW-rah)
spotted a small fern. Her extra large eyes helped her see both in the dark and
in sunlight. She reached the plant with a few steps of her powerful back legs
and nipped at the leaves.
Some
members of her group were standing on a fallen tree trunk and munched on mosses growing alongside it. Others poked their hard beaks through the surface of a frozen pond to get at the liquid water below.
Spring
was months away. This group of dinosaurs would have to live through cold, snow,
and icy darkness until then.
About
110 million years ago, a scene like this might have taken place in what is now southeastern
Australia. At that time, Australia did not exist as one huge landmass
separated from the rest of the world.
A
shallow inland sea, called the Eromango Sea, divided Australia into a group of
about four large islands. Australia’s southern coastline was attached to
the continent of Antarctica, and was located just a few hundred miles from the South Pole. Polar climate was different too,
because the whole world was warmer back then.
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| Illustration by: Zariah |
Winters in that part of the
world were cold enough to make the ground freeze, but spring and summer temperatures
were warm enough to prevent the buildup of ice sheets. These conditions produced an environment that doesn’t
exist anywhere in the world now.
Australia’s
dinosaurs, amphibians, flying reptiles, birds, insects, and early mammals, thrived in lush forests that extended all the way
to the South Pole.
Giant
sea reptiles, turtles, fish, and many other marine creatures lived and swam in the cold Eromango
Sea.
Animals
had to find water, food, and shelter during winters where darkness ruled for weeks, maybe even months, at a time. Those that couldn’t tolerate the severe conditions may have migrated to warmer places, or hibernated
through the winter.
Summertime
brought relief. If you could see that same group of Leallynasaura, you might
find them feeding in a forest where the sun did not set for weeks at a time. You
might hear the cries of recently hatched dinosaurs filling the air in a forest bursting
with new growth.
Eventually,
dinosaurs and many other animals became extinct.
Powerful forces deep inside the Earth separated Australia from Antarctica. Those
same forces turned Australia into a giant island that drifted north and carried
different kinds of plants and animals to a new location. The changes didn’t
stop.
As
time went on, the Eromango Sea dried up, temperatures dropped, and more and more ice accumulated at the bottom of the world.
Australia’s new location helped it escape the
frigid climate that buried Antarctica under miles of ice sheets. There are no
forests there now and very little land life.
Even
in summer, mountains of ice, called glaciers, cover most of the land. Only the
fossils of the plants and animals that once lived there make it possible for us to picture what this lost world may have looked
like.
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