Buried in Australia's so-called dead heart, a trove of exceptional fossils, including those of trapdoor spiders, giant cicadas, tiny fish and a feather from an ancient bird, reveal a unique snapshot of a time when rainforests carpeted the now mostly-arid continent.
Scientists found thousands of preserved plants, spiders and insects dating to the Miocene Epoch.
Scientists found thousands of preserved plants, spiders and insects dating to the Miocene Epoch.
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00:00 It's definitely a new species of plant. I don't think we've found this one before.
00:04 Australia's lush rainforests vanished millions of years ago,
00:08 but scientists recently found rare evidence of the continent's wetter past
00:12 in thousands of exceptional fossils, including trapdoor spiders,
00:16 giant cicadas, tiny fish, and a feather
00:20 from an ancient bird. Mate, this is 10 kilos.
00:24 Good work. I need both
00:28 hands to hold it. Paleontologists discovered the fossil treasure trove
00:32 in New South Wales, in a region so dry that more than
00:36 100 years ago, British geologist John Walter Gregory called it
00:40 the "dead heart of Australia." The site's location on private land
00:44 was kept secret to protect it from illegal fossil collectors.
00:48 Meanwhile, scientists worked to excavate plants and soft-bodied animals
00:52 that were estimated to be between 11 million and 16 million years old.
00:56 What the researchers found was unique in the Australian fossil
01:00 record for the Miocene epoch, because fossils of small and delicate
01:04 creatures such as spiders and insects are exceedingly rare.
01:08 By examining the well-preserved fossils with scanning electron microscopy,
01:12 the study authors could image details as fine as fungal spores
01:16 and grains of pollen. Some of the fossils included animals'
01:20 last meals, like fish, larvae, and a partially
01:24 digested dragonfly wing preserved inside fish's bellies.
01:28 There was even a feather from a bird that was about the size of a modern sparrow.
01:32 This is the missing part of the vertebra, and that's the missing part of the stem.
01:36 This rich collection of fossils in one spot offers a
01:40 unique snapshot of ancient Australian biodiversity, and work on the
01:44 fossil site is just beginning.
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