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2025-05-24 00:55:41 -

Office P&L / Studio Tngtetshiu

Office P&L / Studio TngtetshiuSave this picture!© Studio MillspaceOffices, Renovation•Tainan, Taiwan

Architects:
Studio Tngtetshiu

Year
Completion year of this architecture project

Year:

2024

Photographs

Photographs:Studio MillspaceMore SpecsLess Specs
this picture!
Text description provided by the architects. This project begins with a priority on economy—working with, rather than against, the existing spatial typologies and structural conditions. By minimizing design intervention, the intent was to underscore and reveal the latent character of the original architecture while introducing new office functions. As the new program overlays the old structural order, the original spatial qualities are not erased but reawakened.this picture!this picture!this picture!this picture!this picture!The site comprises two warehouse buildings flanking a transitional space. Each structure employs distinct systems—timber trusses, reinforced concrete, and steel framing—coexisting in close proximity. This juxtaposition of temporal and spatial languages creates a compelling heterogeneity. This layered composition quietly echoes the city's complex and multifaceted history.this picture!this picture!this picture!The in-between space, with its semi-exterior qualities, connects the two primary volumes and offers a layered experience where interior and exterior perceptions intertwine. A raised floor unifies the interior levels, while portions of the original concrete surface —once exterior— are deliberately preserved, forming an indoor courtyard that retains an outdoor sensibility. This courtyard acts as an intermediary between the workspace and the pantry, blurring the thresholds of function and atmosphere.this picture!this picture!Approaching from the entrance steps, the eye is drawn by an 18-meter-long serpentine pendant light, which leads through a narrow, irregular corridor. This meandering path resists a single glance, unfolding gradually through the courtyard and into the main working area. Here, work tables and display shelving run along the longitudinal axis, emphasizing spatial depth. Adjustable curtains define zones and modulate openness, guiding the eye naturally toward the meeting room at the far end—a light-filled space framed by windows on three sides.this picture!Rather than pursuing a singular, unified aesthetic, the design embraces strategies of bricolage. Fragmentary architectural elements and ambiguous objects—hovering between old and new—are arranged in overlapping layers. Through movement and occupation, users are invited to participate in an ongoing narrative of time, memory, and place.this picture!

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Project locationAddress:Tainan, TaiwanLocation to be used only as a reference. It could indicate city/country but not exact address.About this officeStudio TngtetshiuOffice•••
Published on May 23, 2025Cite: "Office P&L / Studio Tngtetshiu" 23 May 2025. ArchDaily. Accessed . < ISSN 0719-8884Save世界上最受欢迎的建筑网站现已推出你的母语版本!想浏览ArchDaily中国吗?是否
You've started following your first account!Did you know?You'll now receive updates based on what you follow! Personalize your stream and start following your favorite authors, offices and users.Go to my stream
#office #pampampl #studio #tngtetshiu

Office P&L / Studio Tngtetshiu
Office P&L / Studio TngtetshiuSave this picture!© Studio MillspaceOffices, Renovation•Tainan, Taiwan Architects: Studio Tngtetshiu Year Completion year of this architecture project Year: 2024 Photographs Photographs:Studio MillspaceMore SpecsLess Specs this picture! Text description provided by the architects. This project begins with a priority on economy—working with, rather than against, the existing spatial typologies and structural conditions. By minimizing design intervention, the intent was to underscore and reveal the latent character of the original architecture while introducing new office functions. As the new program overlays the old structural order, the original spatial qualities are not erased but reawakened.this picture!this picture!this picture!this picture!this picture!The site comprises two warehouse buildings flanking a transitional space. Each structure employs distinct systems—timber trusses, reinforced concrete, and steel framing—coexisting in close proximity. This juxtaposition of temporal and spatial languages creates a compelling heterogeneity. This layered composition quietly echoes the city's complex and multifaceted history.this picture!this picture!this picture!The in-between space, with its semi-exterior qualities, connects the two primary volumes and offers a layered experience where interior and exterior perceptions intertwine. A raised floor unifies the interior levels, while portions of the original concrete surface —once exterior— are deliberately preserved, forming an indoor courtyard that retains an outdoor sensibility. This courtyard acts as an intermediary between the workspace and the pantry, blurring the thresholds of function and atmosphere.this picture!this picture!Approaching from the entrance steps, the eye is drawn by an 18-meter-long serpentine pendant light, which leads through a narrow, irregular corridor. This meandering path resists a single glance, unfolding gradually through the courtyard and into the main working area. Here, work tables and display shelving run along the longitudinal axis, emphasizing spatial depth. Adjustable curtains define zones and modulate openness, guiding the eye naturally toward the meeting room at the far end—a light-filled space framed by windows on three sides.this picture!Rather than pursuing a singular, unified aesthetic, the design embraces strategies of bricolage. Fragmentary architectural elements and ambiguous objects—hovering between old and new—are arranged in overlapping layers. Through movement and occupation, users are invited to participate in an ongoing narrative of time, memory, and place.this picture! Project gallerySee allShow less Project locationAddress:Tainan, TaiwanLocation to be used only as a reference. It could indicate city/country but not exact address.About this officeStudio TngtetshiuOffice••• Published on May 23, 2025Cite: "Office P&L / Studio Tngtetshiu" 23 May 2025. ArchDaily. Accessed . < ISSN 0719-8884Save世界上最受欢迎的建筑网站现已推出你的母语版本!想浏览ArchDaily中国吗?是否 You've started following your first account!Did you know?You'll now receive updates based on what you follow! Personalize your stream and start following your favorite authors, offices and users.Go to my stream #office #pampampl #studio #tngtetshiu

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Office P&L / Studio Tngtetshiu
Office P&L / Studio TngtetshiuSave this picture!© Studio MillspaceOffices, Renovation•Tainan, Taiwan Architects: Studio Tngtetshiu Year Completion year of this architecture project Year: 2024 Photographs Photographs:Studio MillspaceMore SpecsLess Specs Save this picture! Text description provided by the architects. This project begins with a priority on economy—working with, rather than against, the existing spatial typologies and structural conditions. By minimizing design intervention, the intent was to underscore and reveal the latent character of the original architecture while introducing new office functions. As the new program overlays the old structural order, the original spatial qualities are not erased but reawakened.Save this picture!Save this picture!Save this picture!Save this picture!Save this picture!The site comprises two warehouse buildings flanking a transitional space. Each structure employs distinct systems—timber trusses, reinforced concrete, and steel framing—coexisting in close proximity. This juxtaposition of temporal and spatial languages creates a compelling heterogeneity. This layered composition quietly echoes the city's complex and multifaceted history.Save this picture!Save this picture!Save this picture!The in-between space, with its semi-exterior qualities, connects the two primary volumes and offers a layered experience where interior and exterior perceptions intertwine. A raised floor unifies the interior levels, while portions of the original concrete surface —once exterior— are deliberately preserved, forming an indoor courtyard that retains an outdoor sensibility. This courtyard acts as an intermediary between the workspace and the pantry, blurring the thresholds of function and atmosphere.Save this picture!Save this picture!Approaching from the entrance steps, the eye is drawn by an 18-meter-long serpentine pendant light, which leads through a narrow, irregular corridor. This meandering path resists a single glance, unfolding gradually through the courtyard and into the main working area. Here, work tables and display shelving run along the longitudinal axis, emphasizing spatial depth. Adjustable curtains define zones and modulate openness, guiding the eye naturally toward the meeting room at the far end—a light-filled space framed by windows on three sides.Save this picture!Rather than pursuing a singular, unified aesthetic, the design embraces strategies of bricolage. Fragmentary architectural elements and ambiguous objects—hovering between old and new—are arranged in overlapping layers. Through movement and occupation, users are invited to participate in an ongoing narrative of time, memory, and place.Save this picture! Project gallerySee allShow less Project locationAddress:Tainan, TaiwanLocation to be used only as a reference. It could indicate city/country but not exact address.About this officeStudio TngtetshiuOffice••• Published on May 23, 2025Cite: "Office P&L / Studio Tngtetshiu" 23 May 2025. ArchDaily. Accessed . <https://www.archdaily.com/1030346/office-p-and-l-studio-tngtetshiu&gt ISSN 0719-8884Save世界上最受欢迎的建筑网站现已推出你的母语版本!想浏览ArchDaily中国吗?是否 You've started following your first account!Did you know?You'll now receive updates based on what you follow! Personalize your stream and start following your favorite authors, offices and users.Go to my stream

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Futurism μοιράστηκε ένα σύνδεσμο
2025-05-23 00:36:24 -

The Trump Administration's Chat Hack Is Starting to Sound Really Bad

President Donald Trump's national security adviser Mike Waltz has already been ousted for using a bottom-shelf Signal clone for official messaging — but the fallout from that debacle is still getting worse and worse.As Reuters reports, a hacker who accessed information from TeleMessage, an Israeli messaging app that was sold to the government to archive messages from Signal and other services, obtained data from way more Trump officials than previously thought.It's been an especially tough year for Waltz. After being caught accidentally adding Jeffrey Goldberg, The Atlantic's editor-in-chief, to a Signal group chat about Yemeni bombing plans, the Trump adviser was photographed using TeleMessage's Signal clone during a Cabinet meeting just before news broke that it had been hacked. Though Waltz was ultimately fired , the hits have continued in his absence.With the help of the nonprofit Distributed Denial of Secrets, which publishes hacked information of interest to the public, Reuters found more than 60 government officials whose information had been accessed from TeleMessage.Those officials range from staffers with the State Department and the White House to disaster responders and Secret Service members, and although the messages the British wire reviewed were often fragmentary, its reporters were still able to see those federal employees' phone numbers.Outsiders are also corroborating. People outside the government, whose numbers were in the breached message cache, including one person who'd been applying for disaster aid and another from a financial service company, confirmed to Reuters that they had indeed been messaging with Trump administration officials.The White House, to its end, said in a statement that it was "aware of the cyber security incident" but didn't offer any additional details.As Wired reported when the TeleMessage photo was first published, it appears that the app's archiving capabilities essentially nullified any security promises from the app, which was recently purchased by an Oregon-based company called Smarsh.The person who hacked the government's Telemessage server told Wired in a followup story that breaching the app "wasn't much effort at all," and that it only took them about "15 or 20 minutes."As that hacker explained, an issue with the the app's "hashing," which is supposed to obfuscate passwords, accidentally made it easy to figure them out.Once they were in, the hacker was presented with a file literally titled "heapdump" that included the login credentials of people who used the app — and because is archiving effectively un-encrypted the messages sent, they partially accessed those too.Though the extent of this breach and other details about the scandal remain unclear, it's abundantly obvious that the Trump administration has a security problem so bad that it makes Hillary Clinton's private email server look like Fort Knox.More on Telemessage: Trump’s Deportation Airline Just Got Hacked by AnonymousShare This Article
#trump #administration039s #chat #hack #starting

The Trump Administration's Chat Hack Is Starting to Sound Really Bad
President Donald Trump's national security adviser Mike Waltz has already been ousted for using a bottom-shelf Signal clone for official messaging — but the fallout from that debacle is still getting worse and worse.As Reuters reports, a hacker who accessed information from TeleMessage, an Israeli messaging app that was sold to the government to archive messages from Signal and other services, obtained data from way more Trump officials than previously thought.It's been an especially tough year for Waltz. After being caught accidentally adding Jeffrey Goldberg, The Atlantic's editor-in-chief, to a Signal group chat about Yemeni bombing plans, the Trump adviser was photographed using TeleMessage's Signal clone during a Cabinet meeting just before news broke that it had been hacked. Though Waltz was ultimately fired , the hits have continued in his absence.With the help of the nonprofit Distributed Denial of Secrets, which publishes hacked information of interest to the public, Reuters found more than 60 government officials whose information had been accessed from TeleMessage.Those officials range from staffers with the State Department and the White House to disaster responders and Secret Service members, and although the messages the British wire reviewed were often fragmentary, its reporters were still able to see those federal employees' phone numbers.Outsiders are also corroborating. People outside the government, whose numbers were in the breached message cache, including one person who'd been applying for disaster aid and another from a financial service company, confirmed to Reuters that they had indeed been messaging with Trump administration officials.The White House, to its end, said in a statement that it was "aware of the cyber security incident" but didn't offer any additional details.As Wired reported when the TeleMessage photo was first published, it appears that the app's archiving capabilities essentially nullified any security promises from the app, which was recently purchased by an Oregon-based company called Smarsh.The person who hacked the government's Telemessage server told Wired in a followup story that breaching the app "wasn't much effort at all," and that it only took them about "15 or 20 minutes."As that hacker explained, an issue with the the app's "hashing," which is supposed to obfuscate passwords, accidentally made it easy to figure them out.Once they were in, the hacker was presented with a file literally titled "heapdump" that included the login credentials of people who used the app — and because is archiving effectively un-encrypted the messages sent, they partially accessed those too.Though the extent of this breach and other details about the scandal remain unclear, it's abundantly obvious that the Trump administration has a security problem so bad that it makes Hillary Clinton's private email server look like Fort Knox.More on Telemessage: Trump’s Deportation Airline Just Got Hacked by AnonymousShare This Article #trump #administration039s #chat #hack #starting

FUTURISM.COM

The Trump Administration's Chat Hack Is Starting to Sound Really Bad
President Donald Trump's national security adviser Mike Waltz has already been ousted for using a bottom-shelf Signal clone for official messaging — but the fallout from that debacle is still getting worse and worse.As Reuters reports, a hacker who accessed information from TeleMessage, an Israeli messaging app that was sold to the government to archive messages from Signal and other services, obtained data from way more Trump officials than previously thought.It's been an especially tough year for Waltz. After being caught accidentally adding Jeffrey Goldberg, The Atlantic's editor-in-chief, to a Signal group chat about Yemeni bombing plans, the Trump adviser was photographed using TeleMessage's Signal clone during a Cabinet meeting just before news broke that it had been hacked. Though Waltz was ultimately fired , the hits have continued in his absence.With the help of the nonprofit Distributed Denial of Secrets, which publishes hacked information of interest to the public, Reuters found more than 60 government officials whose information had been accessed from TeleMessage.Those officials range from staffers with the State Department and the White House to disaster responders and Secret Service members, and although the messages the British wire reviewed were often fragmentary, its reporters were still able to see those federal employees' phone numbers.Outsiders are also corroborating. People outside the government, whose numbers were in the breached message cache, including one person who'd been applying for disaster aid and another from a financial service company, confirmed to Reuters that they had indeed been messaging with Trump administration officials.The White House, to its end, said in a statement that it was "aware of the cyber security incident" but didn't offer any additional details.As Wired reported when the TeleMessage photo was first published, it appears that the app's archiving capabilities essentially nullified any security promises from the app, which was recently purchased by an Oregon-based company called Smarsh.The person who hacked the government's Telemessage server told Wired in a followup story that breaching the app "wasn't much effort at all," and that it only took them about "15 or 20 minutes."As that hacker explained, an issue with the the app's "hashing," which is supposed to obfuscate passwords, accidentally made it easy to figure them out.Once they were in, the hacker was presented with a file literally titled "heapdump" that included the login credentials of people who used the app — and because is archiving effectively un-encrypted the messages sent, they partially accessed those too.Though the extent of this breach and other details about the scandal remain unclear, it's abundantly obvious that the Trump administration has a security problem so bad that it makes Hillary Clinton's private email server look like Fort Knox.More on Telemessage: Trump’s Deportation Airline Just Got Hacked by AnonymousShare This Article

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New Scientist μοιράστηκε ένα σύνδεσμο
2025-05-22 00:49:53 -

The first teeth were sensory organs on the skin of ancient fish

CT scan of the front of a skate, showing the hard, tooth-like denticleson its skinYara Haridy
Teeth first evolved as sensory organs, not for chewing, according to a new analysis of animal fossils. The first tooth-like structures seem to have been sensitive nodules on the skin of early fish that could detect changes in the surrounding water.
The finding supports a long-standing idea that teeth first evolved outside the mouth, says Yara Haridy at the University of Chicago.
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While there was some evidence to back this up, there was an obvious question. “What good is having all these teeth on the outside?” says Haridy. One possibility was that they served as defensive armour, but Haridy thinks there was more to it. “It’s great to cover yourself in hard things, but what if those hard things could also help you sense your environment?”
True teeth are only found in backboned vertebrates, like fish and mammals. Some invertebrates have tooth-like structures, but the underlying tissues are completely different. This means teeth originated during the evolution of the earliest vertebrates: fish.
Haridy and her team re-examined fossils that have been claimed to be the oldest examples of fish teeth, using a synchrotron to scan them in unprecedented detail.

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They focused first on fragmentary fossils of animals called Anatolepis, which date from the later part of the Cambrian Period, which ran from 539 million to 487 million years ago, and early in the Ordovician Period, which ran from 487 million to 443 million years ago. These animals had a hard exoskeleton, dotted with tubules.
These had been interpreted as being tubules of dentine, one of the hard tissues that make up teeth. In human teeth, dentine is the yellow layer under the hard white enamel and it performs many functions, including sensing pressure, temperature and pain.
This led to the idea that the tubules are precursors to teeth called odontodes and that Anatolepis is an early fish.
That isn’t what Haridy and her team found. “We saw that the internal anatomydidn’t actually look like a vertebrate at all,” she says. After examining structures from a range of animals, they found that the tubules were most similar to features called sensilla found on the exoskeletons of arthropods like insects and spiders. These look like pegs or small hairs and detect a range of phenomena. “It can be everything from taste to vibration to changes in air currents,” says Haridy.
This means Anatolepis is an arthropod, not a fish, and its tubules aren’t the direct precursors to teeth.

“Dentine is likely a vertebrate novelty, yet the sensory capabilities of a hardened external surface were present much earlier in invertebrates,” says Gareth Fraser at the University of Florida in Gainesville, who wasn’t involved in the study.
With Anatolepis out of the picture, the team says, the oldest known teeth are those of Eriptychius, which is only known from the Ordovician Period. These do have true dentine – in odontodes on their skin.
Haridy says invertebrates like Anatolepis and early vertebrates like Eriptychius independently evolved hard, sensory nodules on their skin. “These two very different animals needed to sense their way through the muck of ancient seas,” she says. In line with this, the team found that the odontodes on the skin of some modern fish still have nerves – suggesting a sensory function.
Once some fish became active predators, they needed a way to hold onto their prey, so the hard odontodes made their way to the mouth, where they could be used to bite.
“Based on the available data, tooth-like structures likely first evolved in the skin of early vertebrates, prior to the oral invasion of these structures that became teeth,” says Fraser.
Journal reference:Nature DOI: 10.1038/s41586-025-08944-w
Topics:
#first #teeth #were #sensory #organs

The first teeth were sensory organs on the skin of ancient fish
CT scan of the front of a skate, showing the hard, tooth-like denticleson its skinYara Haridy Teeth first evolved as sensory organs, not for chewing, according to a new analysis of animal fossils. The first tooth-like structures seem to have been sensitive nodules on the skin of early fish that could detect changes in the surrounding water. The finding supports a long-standing idea that teeth first evolved outside the mouth, says Yara Haridy at the University of Chicago. Advertisement While there was some evidence to back this up, there was an obvious question. “What good is having all these teeth on the outside?” says Haridy. One possibility was that they served as defensive armour, but Haridy thinks there was more to it. “It’s great to cover yourself in hard things, but what if those hard things could also help you sense your environment?” True teeth are only found in backboned vertebrates, like fish and mammals. Some invertebrates have tooth-like structures, but the underlying tissues are completely different. This means teeth originated during the evolution of the earliest vertebrates: fish. Haridy and her team re-examined fossils that have been claimed to be the oldest examples of fish teeth, using a synchrotron to scan them in unprecedented detail. Unmissable news about our planet delivered straight to your inbox every month. Sign up to newsletter They focused first on fragmentary fossils of animals called Anatolepis, which date from the later part of the Cambrian Period, which ran from 539 million to 487 million years ago, and early in the Ordovician Period, which ran from 487 million to 443 million years ago. These animals had a hard exoskeleton, dotted with tubules. These had been interpreted as being tubules of dentine, one of the hard tissues that make up teeth. In human teeth, dentine is the yellow layer under the hard white enamel and it performs many functions, including sensing pressure, temperature and pain. This led to the idea that the tubules are precursors to teeth called odontodes and that Anatolepis is an early fish. That isn’t what Haridy and her team found. “We saw that the internal anatomydidn’t actually look like a vertebrate at all,” she says. After examining structures from a range of animals, they found that the tubules were most similar to features called sensilla found on the exoskeletons of arthropods like insects and spiders. These look like pegs or small hairs and detect a range of phenomena. “It can be everything from taste to vibration to changes in air currents,” says Haridy. This means Anatolepis is an arthropod, not a fish, and its tubules aren’t the direct precursors to teeth. “Dentine is likely a vertebrate novelty, yet the sensory capabilities of a hardened external surface were present much earlier in invertebrates,” says Gareth Fraser at the University of Florida in Gainesville, who wasn’t involved in the study. With Anatolepis out of the picture, the team says, the oldest known teeth are those of Eriptychius, which is only known from the Ordovician Period. These do have true dentine – in odontodes on their skin. Haridy says invertebrates like Anatolepis and early vertebrates like Eriptychius independently evolved hard, sensory nodules on their skin. “These two very different animals needed to sense their way through the muck of ancient seas,” she says. In line with this, the team found that the odontodes on the skin of some modern fish still have nerves – suggesting a sensory function. Once some fish became active predators, they needed a way to hold onto their prey, so the hard odontodes made their way to the mouth, where they could be used to bite. “Based on the available data, tooth-like structures likely first evolved in the skin of early vertebrates, prior to the oral invasion of these structures that became teeth,” says Fraser. Journal reference:Nature DOI: 10.1038/s41586-025-08944-w Topics: #first #teeth #were #sensory #organs

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The first teeth were sensory organs on the skin of ancient fish
CT scan of the front of a skate, showing the hard, tooth-like denticles (orange) on its skinYara Haridy Teeth first evolved as sensory organs, not for chewing, according to a new analysis of animal fossils. The first tooth-like structures seem to have been sensitive nodules on the skin of early fish that could detect changes in the surrounding water. The finding supports a long-standing idea that teeth first evolved outside the mouth, says Yara Haridy at the University of Chicago. Advertisement While there was some evidence to back this up, there was an obvious question. “What good is having all these teeth on the outside?” says Haridy. One possibility was that they served as defensive armour, but Haridy thinks there was more to it. “It’s great to cover yourself in hard things, but what if those hard things could also help you sense your environment?” True teeth are only found in backboned vertebrates, like fish and mammals. Some invertebrates have tooth-like structures, but the underlying tissues are completely different. This means teeth originated during the evolution of the earliest vertebrates: fish. Haridy and her team re-examined fossils that have been claimed to be the oldest examples of fish teeth, using a synchrotron to scan them in unprecedented detail. Unmissable news about our planet delivered straight to your inbox every month. Sign up to newsletter They focused first on fragmentary fossils of animals called Anatolepis, which date from the later part of the Cambrian Period, which ran from 539 million to 487 million years ago, and early in the Ordovician Period, which ran from 487 million to 443 million years ago. These animals had a hard exoskeleton, dotted with tubules. These had been interpreted as being tubules of dentine, one of the hard tissues that make up teeth. In human teeth, dentine is the yellow layer under the hard white enamel and it performs many functions, including sensing pressure, temperature and pain. This led to the idea that the tubules are precursors to teeth called odontodes and that Anatolepis is an early fish. That isn’t what Haridy and her team found. “We saw that the internal anatomy [of the tubules] didn’t actually look like a vertebrate at all,” she says. After examining structures from a range of animals, they found that the tubules were most similar to features called sensilla found on the exoskeletons of arthropods like insects and spiders. These look like pegs or small hairs and detect a range of phenomena. “It can be everything from taste to vibration to changes in air currents,” says Haridy. This means Anatolepis is an arthropod, not a fish, and its tubules aren’t the direct precursors to teeth. “Dentine is likely a vertebrate novelty, yet the sensory capabilities of a hardened external surface were present much earlier in invertebrates,” says Gareth Fraser at the University of Florida in Gainesville, who wasn’t involved in the study. With Anatolepis out of the picture, the team says, the oldest known teeth are those of Eriptychius, which is only known from the Ordovician Period. These do have true dentine – in odontodes on their skin. Haridy says invertebrates like Anatolepis and early vertebrates like Eriptychius independently evolved hard, sensory nodules on their skin. “These two very different animals needed to sense their way through the muck of ancient seas,” she says. In line with this, the team found that the odontodes on the skin of some modern fish still have nerves – suggesting a sensory function. Once some fish became active predators, they needed a way to hold onto their prey, so the hard odontodes made their way to the mouth, where they could be used to bite. “Based on the available data, tooth-like structures likely first evolved in the skin of early vertebrates, prior to the oral invasion of these structures that became teeth,” says Fraser. Journal reference:Nature DOI: 10.1038/s41586-025-08944-w Topics:

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Παρακαλούμε συνδέσου στην Κοινότητά μας για να δηλώσεις τι σου αρέσει, να σχολιάσεις και να μοιραστείς με τους φίλους σου!
Discover Magazine μοιράστηκε ένα σύνδεσμο
2025-05-13 14:55:01 -

#333;">First Ever Pregnant Ichthyosaur from the Early Cretaceous Reveals Life in Prehistoric Seas
During an excavation, amidst the Patagonian winds and hard rock, a fossil began to turn green.
It was an unexpected reaction: the adhesive applied to protect the bones, fragile after millions of years beneath the ice, had interacted with plant matter trapped in the rock’s cracks.
This greenish hue earned the fossil the nickname Fiona, like the ogre from Shrek.But Fionais much more than a ogre-themed name.
It is the first complete ichthyosaur ever excavated in Chile and, even more remarkably, the only known pregnant female from the Hauterivian — a stage of the Early Cretaceous dating back 131 million years.
Her skeleton, discovered at the edge of the Tyndall Glacier in Torres del Paine National Park — an area increasingly exposed by glacial retreat — belongs to the species Myobradypterygius hauthali, originally described in Argentina from fragmentary remains.The discovery, led by Judith Pardo-Pérez, a researcher at the University of Magallanes and the Cabo de Hornos International Center (CHIC), and published in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, offers an unprecedented glimpse into ancient marine life — from how these majestic reptiles reproduced to how they adapted to oceans vastly different from those of today.An Ichthyosaur Maternity Ward in Patagonia(Image Courtesy of Irene Viscor)So far, 88 ichthyosaurs have been found on the Tyndall Glacier.
Most of them are adults and newborns.
Two key facts stand out: food was abundant, and no other predators were competing with them.Fiona, who measures nearly 13 feet long, is still encased in five blocks of rock.
Despite the challenge, she was transported to a local clinic, where CT scans allowed researchers to study her skull and body.
Her species was identified thanks to one of her fins.
“There’s no other like it in the world,” says Pardo-Pérez.
The limbs were remarkably elongated, suggesting this animal was built for long-distance swimming.Inside her, there were more surprises.
One of them was her stomach contents, which revealed what may have been her last meal: tiny fish vertebrae.
But the most striking find was a fetus, about 20 inches long, already in a position to be born.“We believe these animals came to Magallanes — the southern tip of Chilean Patagonia — from time to time to give birth, because it was a safe refuge,” Pardo-Pérez says.
“We don't know how long they stayed, but we do know that mortality was high during the first few days of life.”One of the big unanswered questions is where they went next, as there are no records of Myobradypterygius hauthali, apart from a piece of fin found in Argentina.
The most abundant remains come from southern Germany, but those date back to the Jurassic period, meaning they’re older.Palaeontologist Erin Maxwell suggests, “In many modern ecosystems, species migrate to higher latitudes during the summer to take advantage of seasonally abundant resources and then move to lower latitudes in winter to avoid harsh conditions,” she explains.
“We believe Mesozoic marine reptiles may have followed similar seasonal patterns.”Sea Dragon GraveyardThe environment where Fiona was discovered — dubbed the "sea dragon graveyard" — also has much to reveal.According to geologist Matthew Malkowski of the University of Texas at Austin, the Hauterivian age is particularly intriguing because it coincided with major planetary changes: the breakup of continents, intense volcanic episodes, and phenomena known as "oceanic anoxic events," during which vast areas of the ocean were depleted of dissolved oxygen for hundreds of thousands of years.One such poorly understood event, the Pharaonic Anoxic Event, occurred around 131 million years ago, near the end of the Hauterivian, and still raises questions about its true impact on marine life.
“We don't have a firm grasp of how significant these events were for marine vertebrates, and geological records like that of the Tyndall Glacier allow us to explore the relationship between life, the environment, and Earth’s past conditions,” Malkowski notes.Evolution of IchthyosaursReconstruction of Fiona.
(Image Courtesy of Mauricio Álvarez)Don't be misled by their body shape.
“Ichthyosaurs are not related to dolphins,” clarifies Pardo-Pérez.
Although their hydrodynamic silhouettes may look nearly identical, the former were marine reptiles, while the latter are mammals.
This resemblance results from a phenomenon known as convergent evolution: when species from different lineages develop similar anatomical features to adapt to the same environment.Ichthyosaurs evolved from terrestrial reptiles that, in response to ecological and climatic changes, began spending more time in the water until they fully adapted to a marine lifestyle.
However, they retained traces of their land-dwelling ancestry, such as a pair of hind flippers — absent in dolphins — passed down from their walking forebears.
They lived and thrived in prehistoric oceans for about 180 million years, giving them ample time to refine a highly specialized body: their forelimbs and hindlimbs transformed into flippers; they developed a crescent-shaped tail for propulsion, a dorsal fin for stability, and a streamlined body to reduce drag in the water.
Remarkably, like whales and dolphins, “ichthyosaurs had a thick layer of blubber as insulation to maintain a higher body temperature than the surrounding seawater and gave birth to live young, which meant they didn’t need to leave the water to reproduce,” explains Maxwell.Whales and dolphins also descend from land-dwelling ancestors, but their transition happened over a comparatively short evolutionary timespan, especially when measured against the long reign of the ichthyosaurs.
“Their evolution hasn't had as much time as that of ichthyosaurs,” notes Pardo-Pérez.
“And yet, they look so similar.
That’s the wonderful thing about evolution.”Read More: Did a Swimming Reptile Predate the Dinosaurs?Fossils on the Verge of DisappearanceOne of the key factors behind the remarkable preservation of the fossils found in the Tyndall Glacier is the way they were buried.
According to Malkowski, Fiona and her contemporaries were either trapped or swiftly covered by underwater landslides and turbidity currents — geological processes that led to their sudden entombment.But the good fortune that protected them for millions of years may now be running out.
As the glacier retreats, exposing fossils that were once unreachable, those same remains are now vulnerable to wind, rain, and freeze-thaw cycles, which crack the surrounding rock.
As vegetation takes hold, roots accelerate erosion and eventually conceal the fossils once again.“While climate change has allowed these fossils to be studied, continued warming will also eventually lead to their loss,” Maxwell warns.
In Fiona’s story, scientists find not only a record of ancient life, but also a warning etched in stone and bone: what time reveals, climate can reclaim.Article SourcesOur writers at Discovermagazine.com use peer-reviewed studies and high-quality sources for our articles, and our editors review for scientific accuracy and editorial standards.
Review the sources used below for this article:María de los Ángeles Orfila is a science journalist based in Montevideo, Uruguay, focusing on long-form storytelling.
Her work has appeared in Discover Magazine, Science, National Geographic, among other outlets, and in leading Uruguayan publications such as El País and El Observador.
She was a fellow in the 2023 Sharon Dunwoody Mentoring Program by The Open Notebook and often explores the intersections of science, culture, and Latin American identity.
#666;">المصدر: https://www.discovermagazine.com/the-sciences/first-ever-pregnant-ichthyosaur-from-the-early-cretaceous-reveals-life-in" style="color: #0066cc; text-decoration: none;">www.discovermagazine.com
#0066cc;">#first #ever #pregnant #ichthyosaur #from #the #early #cretaceous #reveals #life #prehistoric #seas #during #excavation #amidst #patagonian #winds #and #hard #rock #fossil #began #turn #greenit #was #unexpected #reaction #adhesive #applied #protect #bones #fragile #after #millions #years #beneath #ice #had #interacted #with #plant #matter #trapped #rocks #cracksthis #greenish #hue #earned #nickname #fiona #like #ogre #shrekbut #fionais #much #more #than #ogrethemed #nameit #complete #excavated #chile #even #remarkably #only #known #female #hauterivian #stage #dating #back #million #yearsher #skeleton #discovered #edge #tyndall #glacier #torres #del #paine #national #park #area #increasingly #exposed #glacial #retreat #belongs #species #myobradypterygius #hauthali #originally #described #argentina #fragmentary #remainsthe #discovery #led #judith #pardopérez #researcher #university #magallanes #cabo #hornos #international #center #chic #published #journal #vertebrate #paleontology #offers #unprecedented #glimpse #into #ancient #marine #how #these #majestic #reptiles #reproduced #they #adapted #oceans #vastly #different #those #todayan #maternity #ward #patagoniaimage #courtesy #irene #viscorso #far #ichthyosaurs #have #been #found #glaciermost #them #are #adults #newbornstwo #key #facts #stand #out #food #abundant #other #predators #were #competing #themfiona #who #measures #nearly #feet #long #still #encased #five #blocks #rockdespite #challenge #she #transported #local #clinic #where #scans #allowed #researchers #study #her #skull #bodyher #identified #thanks #one #finstheres #world #says #pardopérezthe #limbs #elongated #suggesting #this #animal #built #for #longdistance #swimminginside #there #surprisesone #stomach #contents #which #revealed #what #may #last #meal #tiny #fish #vertebraebut #most #striking #find #fetus #about #inches #already #position #bornwe #believe #animals #came #southern #tip #chilean #patagonia #time #give #birth #because #safe #refuge #sayswe #don039t #know #stayed #but #that #mortality #high #few #days #lifeone #big #unanswered #questions #went #next #records #apart #piece #fin #argentinathe #remains #come #germany #date #jurassic #period #meaning #theyre #olderpalaeontologist #erin #maxwell #suggests #many #modern #ecosystems #migrate #higher #latitudes #summer #take #advantage #seasonally #resources #then #move #lower #winter #avoid #harsh #conditions #explainswe #mesozoic #followed #similar #seasonal #patternssea #dragon #graveyardthe #environment #dubbed #quotsea #graveyardquot #also #has #revealaccording #geologist #matthew #malkowski #texas #austin #age #particularly #intriguing #coincided #major #planetary #changes #breakup #continents #intense #volcanic #episodes #phenomena #quotoceanic #anoxic #eventsquot #vast #areas #ocean #depleted #dissolved #oxygen #hundreds #thousands #yearsone #such #poorly #understood #event #pharaonic #occurred #around #ago #near #end #raises #its #true #impact #lifewe #firm #grasp #significant #events #vertebrates #geological #allow #explore #relationship #between #earths #past #notesevolution #ichthyosaursreconstruction #fionaimage #mauricio #Álvarezdon039t #misled #their #body #shapeichthyosaurs #not #related #dolphins #clarifies #pardopérezalthough #hydrodynamic #silhouettes #look #identical #former #while #latter #mammalsthis #resemblance #results #phenomenon #convergent #evolution #when #lineages #develop #anatomical #features #adapt #same #environmentichthyosaurs #evolved #terrestrial #response #ecological #climatic #spending #water #until #fully #lifestylehowever #retained #traces #landdwelling #ancestry #pair #hind #flippers #absent #passed #down #walking #forebearsthey #lived #thrived #giving #ample #refine #highly #specialized #forelimbs #hindlimbs #transformed #developed #crescentshaped #tail #propulsion #dorsal #stability #streamlined #reduce #drag #waterremarkably #whales #thick #layer #blubber #insulation #maintain #temperature #surrounding #seawater #gave #live #young #meant #didnt #need #leave #reproduce #explains #maxwellwhales #descend #ancestors #transition #happened #over #comparatively #short #evolutionary #timespan #especially #measured #against #reign #ichthyosaurstheir #hasn039t #notes #pardopérezand #yet #similarthats #wonderful #thing #evolutionread #did #swimming #reptile #predate #dinosaursfossils #verge #disappearanceone #factors #behind #remarkable #preservation #fossils #way #buriedaccording #contemporaries #either #swiftly #covered #underwater #landslides #turbidity #currents #processes #sudden #entombmentbut #good #fortune #protected #now #running #outas #retreats #exposing #once #unreachable #vulnerable #wind #rain #freezethaw #cycles #crack #rockas #vegetation #takes #hold #roots #accelerate #erosion #eventually #conceal #againwhile #climate #change #studied #continued #warming #will #lead #loss #warnsin #fionas #story #scientists #record #warning #etched #stone #bone #can #reclaimarticle #sourcesour #writers #discovermagazinecom #use #peerreviewed #studies #highquality #sources #our #articles #editors #review #scientific #accuracy #editorial #standardsreview #used #below #articlemaría #los #Ángeles #orfila #science #journalist #based #montevideo #uruguay #focusing #longform #storytellingher #work #appeared #discover #magazine #geographic #among #outlets #leading #uruguayan #publications #país #observadorshe #fellow #sharon #dunwoody #mentoring #program #open #notebook #often #explores #intersections #culture #latin #american #identity

First Ever Pregnant Ichthyosaur from the Early Cretaceous Reveals Life in Prehistoric Seas
During an excavation, amidst the Patagonian winds and hard rock, a fossil began to turn green. It was an unexpected reaction: the adhesive applied to protect the bones, fragile after millions of years beneath the ice, had interacted with plant matter trapped in the rock’s cracks. This greenish hue earned the fossil the nickname Fiona, like the ogre from Shrek.But Fionais much more than a ogre-themed name. It is the first complete ichthyosaur ever excavated in Chile and, even more remarkably, the only known pregnant female from the Hauterivian — a stage of the Early Cretaceous dating back 131 million years. Her skeleton, discovered at the edge of the Tyndall Glacier in Torres del Paine National Park — an area increasingly exposed by glacial retreat — belongs to the species Myobradypterygius hauthali, originally described in Argentina from fragmentary remains.The discovery, led by Judith Pardo-Pérez, a researcher at the University of Magallanes and the Cabo de Hornos International Center (CHIC), and published in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, offers an unprecedented glimpse into ancient marine life — from how these majestic reptiles reproduced to how they adapted to oceans vastly different from those of today.An Ichthyosaur Maternity Ward in Patagonia(Image Courtesy of Irene Viscor)So far, 88 ichthyosaurs have been found on the Tyndall Glacier. Most of them are adults and newborns. Two key facts stand out: food was abundant, and no other predators were competing with them.Fiona, who measures nearly 13 feet long, is still encased in five blocks of rock. Despite the challenge, she was transported to a local clinic, where CT scans allowed researchers to study her skull and body. Her species was identified thanks to one of her fins. “There’s no other like it in the world,” says Pardo-Pérez. The limbs were remarkably elongated, suggesting this animal was built for long-distance swimming.Inside her, there were more surprises. One of them was her stomach contents, which revealed what may have been her last meal: tiny fish vertebrae. But the most striking find was a fetus, about 20 inches long, already in a position to be born.“We believe these animals came to Magallanes — the southern tip of Chilean Patagonia — from time to time to give birth, because it was a safe refuge,” Pardo-Pérez says. “We don't know how long they stayed, but we do know that mortality was high during the first few days of life.”One of the big unanswered questions is where they went next, as there are no records of Myobradypterygius hauthali, apart from a piece of fin found in Argentina. The most abundant remains come from southern Germany, but those date back to the Jurassic period, meaning they’re older.Palaeontologist Erin Maxwell suggests, “In many modern ecosystems, species migrate to higher latitudes during the summer to take advantage of seasonally abundant resources and then move to lower latitudes in winter to avoid harsh conditions,” she explains. “We believe Mesozoic marine reptiles may have followed similar seasonal patterns.”Sea Dragon GraveyardThe environment where Fiona was discovered — dubbed the "sea dragon graveyard" — also has much to reveal.According to geologist Matthew Malkowski of the University of Texas at Austin, the Hauterivian age is particularly intriguing because it coincided with major planetary changes: the breakup of continents, intense volcanic episodes, and phenomena known as "oceanic anoxic events," during which vast areas of the ocean were depleted of dissolved oxygen for hundreds of thousands of years.One such poorly understood event, the Pharaonic Anoxic Event, occurred around 131 million years ago, near the end of the Hauterivian, and still raises questions about its true impact on marine life. “We don't have a firm grasp of how significant these events were for marine vertebrates, and geological records like that of the Tyndall Glacier allow us to explore the relationship between life, the environment, and Earth’s past conditions,” Malkowski notes.Evolution of IchthyosaursReconstruction of Fiona. (Image Courtesy of Mauricio Álvarez)Don't be misled by their body shape. “Ichthyosaurs are not related to dolphins,” clarifies Pardo-Pérez. Although their hydrodynamic silhouettes may look nearly identical, the former were marine reptiles, while the latter are mammals. This resemblance results from a phenomenon known as convergent evolution: when species from different lineages develop similar anatomical features to adapt to the same environment.Ichthyosaurs evolved from terrestrial reptiles that, in response to ecological and climatic changes, began spending more time in the water until they fully adapted to a marine lifestyle. However, they retained traces of their land-dwelling ancestry, such as a pair of hind flippers — absent in dolphins — passed down from their walking forebears. They lived and thrived in prehistoric oceans for about 180 million years, giving them ample time to refine a highly specialized body: their forelimbs and hindlimbs transformed into flippers; they developed a crescent-shaped tail for propulsion, a dorsal fin for stability, and a streamlined body to reduce drag in the water. Remarkably, like whales and dolphins, “ichthyosaurs had a thick layer of blubber as insulation to maintain a higher body temperature than the surrounding seawater and gave birth to live young, which meant they didn’t need to leave the water to reproduce,” explains Maxwell.Whales and dolphins also descend from land-dwelling ancestors, but their transition happened over a comparatively short evolutionary timespan, especially when measured against the long reign of the ichthyosaurs. “Their evolution hasn't had as much time as that of ichthyosaurs,” notes Pardo-Pérez. “And yet, they look so similar. That’s the wonderful thing about evolution.”Read More: Did a Swimming Reptile Predate the Dinosaurs?Fossils on the Verge of DisappearanceOne of the key factors behind the remarkable preservation of the fossils found in the Tyndall Glacier is the way they were buried. According to Malkowski, Fiona and her contemporaries were either trapped or swiftly covered by underwater landslides and turbidity currents — geological processes that led to their sudden entombment.But the good fortune that protected them for millions of years may now be running out. As the glacier retreats, exposing fossils that were once unreachable, those same remains are now vulnerable to wind, rain, and freeze-thaw cycles, which crack the surrounding rock. As vegetation takes hold, roots accelerate erosion and eventually conceal the fossils once again.“While climate change has allowed these fossils to be studied, continued warming will also eventually lead to their loss,” Maxwell warns. In Fiona’s story, scientists find not only a record of ancient life, but also a warning etched in stone and bone: what time reveals, climate can reclaim.Article SourcesOur writers at Discovermagazine.com use peer-reviewed studies and high-quality sources for our articles, and our editors review for scientific accuracy and editorial standards. Review the sources used below for this article:María de los Ángeles Orfila is a science journalist based in Montevideo, Uruguay, focusing on long-form storytelling. Her work has appeared in Discover Magazine, Science, National Geographic, among other outlets, and in leading Uruguayan publications such as El País and El Observador. She was a fellow in the 2023 Sharon Dunwoody Mentoring Program by The Open Notebook and often explores the intersections of science, culture, and Latin American identity.
المصدر: www.discovermagazine.com
#first #ever #pregnant #ichthyosaur #from #the #early #cretaceous #reveals #life #prehistoric #seas #during #excavation #amidst #patagonian #winds #and #hard #rock #fossil #began #turn #greenit #was #unexpected #reaction #adhesive #applied #protect #bones #fragile #after #millions #years #beneath #ice #had #interacted #with #plant #matter #trapped #rocks #cracksthis #greenish #hue #earned #nickname #fiona #like #ogre #shrekbut #fionais #much #more #than #ogrethemed #nameit #complete #excavated #chile #even #remarkably #only #known #female #hauterivian #stage #dating #back #million #yearsher #skeleton #discovered #edge #tyndall #glacier #torres #del #paine #national #park #area #increasingly #exposed #glacial #retreat #belongs #species #myobradypterygius #hauthali #originally #described #argentina #fragmentary #remainsthe #discovery #led #judith #pardopérez #researcher #university #magallanes #cabo #hornos #international #center #chic #published #journal #vertebrate #paleontology #offers #unprecedented #glimpse #into #ancient #marine #how #these #majestic #reptiles #reproduced #they #adapted #oceans #vastly #different #those #todayan #maternity #ward #patagoniaimage #courtesy #irene #viscorso #far #ichthyosaurs #have #been #found #glaciermost #them #are #adults #newbornstwo #key #facts #stand #out #food #abundant #other #predators #were #competing #themfiona #who #measures #nearly #feet #long #still #encased #five #blocks #rockdespite #challenge #she #transported #local #clinic #where #scans #allowed #researchers #study #her #skull #bodyher #identified #thanks #one #finstheres #world #says #pardopérezthe #limbs #elongated #suggesting #this #animal #built #for #longdistance #swimminginside #there #surprisesone #stomach #contents #which #revealed #what #may #last #meal #tiny #fish #vertebraebut #most #striking #find #fetus #about #inches #already #position #bornwe #believe #animals #came #southern #tip #chilean #patagonia #time #give #birth #because #safe #refuge #sayswe #don039t #know #stayed #but #that #mortality #high #few #days #lifeone #big #unanswered #questions #went #next #records #apart #piece #fin #argentinathe #remains #come #germany #date #jurassic #period #meaning #theyre #olderpalaeontologist #erin #maxwell #suggests #many #modern #ecosystems #migrate #higher #latitudes #summer #take #advantage #seasonally #resources #then #move #lower #winter #avoid #harsh #conditions #explainswe #mesozoic #followed #similar #seasonal #patternssea #dragon #graveyardthe #environment #dubbed #quotsea #graveyardquot #also #has #revealaccording #geologist #matthew #malkowski #texas #austin #age #particularly #intriguing #coincided #major #planetary #changes #breakup #continents #intense #volcanic #episodes #phenomena #quotoceanic #anoxic #eventsquot #vast #areas #ocean #depleted #dissolved #oxygen #hundreds #thousands #yearsone #such #poorly #understood #event #pharaonic #occurred #around #ago #near #end #raises #its #true #impact #lifewe #firm #grasp #significant #events #vertebrates #geological #allow #explore #relationship #between #earths #past #notesevolution #ichthyosaursreconstruction #fionaimage #mauricio #Álvarezdon039t #misled #their #body #shapeichthyosaurs #not #related #dolphins #clarifies #pardopérezalthough #hydrodynamic #silhouettes #look #identical #former #while #latter #mammalsthis #resemblance #results #phenomenon #convergent #evolution #when #lineages #develop #anatomical #features #adapt #same #environmentichthyosaurs #evolved #terrestrial #response #ecological #climatic #spending #water #until #fully #lifestylehowever #retained #traces #landdwelling #ancestry #pair #hind #flippers #absent #passed #down #walking #forebearsthey #lived #thrived #giving #ample #refine #highly #specialized #forelimbs #hindlimbs #transformed #developed #crescentshaped #tail #propulsion #dorsal #stability #streamlined #reduce #drag #waterremarkably #whales #thick #layer #blubber #insulation #maintain #temperature #surrounding #seawater #gave #live #young #meant #didnt #need #leave #reproduce #explains #maxwellwhales #descend #ancestors #transition #happened #over #comparatively #short #evolutionary #timespan #especially #measured #against #reign #ichthyosaurstheir #hasn039t #notes #pardopérezand #yet #similarthats #wonderful #thing #evolutionread #did #swimming #reptile #predate #dinosaursfossils #verge #disappearanceone #factors #behind #remarkable #preservation #fossils #way #buriedaccording #contemporaries #either #swiftly #covered #underwater #landslides #turbidity #currents #processes #sudden #entombmentbut #good #fortune #protected #now #running #outas #retreats #exposing #once #unreachable #vulnerable #wind #rain #freezethaw #cycles #crack #rockas #vegetation #takes #hold #roots #accelerate #erosion #eventually #conceal #againwhile #climate #change #studied #continued #warming #will #lead #loss #warnsin #fionas #story #scientists #record #warning #etched #stone #bone #can #reclaimarticle #sourcesour #writers #discovermagazinecom #use #peerreviewed #studies #highquality #sources #our #articles #editors #review #scientific #accuracy #editorial #standardsreview #used #below #articlemaría #los #Ángeles #orfila #science #journalist #based #montevideo #uruguay #focusing #longform #storytellingher #work #appeared #discover #magazine #geographic #among #outlets #leading #uruguayan #publications #país #observadorshe #fellow #sharon #dunwoody #mentoring #program #open #notebook #often #explores #intersections #culture #latin #american #identity

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First Ever Pregnant Ichthyosaur from the Early Cretaceous Reveals Life in Prehistoric Seas
During an excavation, amidst the Patagonian winds and hard rock, a fossil began to turn green. It was an unexpected reaction: the adhesive applied to protect the bones, fragile after millions of years beneath the ice, had interacted with plant matter trapped in the rock’s cracks. This greenish hue earned the fossil the nickname Fiona, like the ogre from Shrek.But Fionais much more than a ogre-themed name. It is the first complete ichthyosaur ever excavated in Chile and, even more remarkably, the only known pregnant female from the Hauterivian — a stage of the Early Cretaceous dating back 131 million years. Her skeleton, discovered at the edge of the Tyndall Glacier in Torres del Paine National Park — an area increasingly exposed by glacial retreat — belongs to the species Myobradypterygius hauthali, originally described in Argentina from fragmentary remains.The discovery, led by Judith Pardo-Pérez, a researcher at the University of Magallanes and the Cabo de Hornos International Center (CHIC), and published in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, offers an unprecedented glimpse into ancient marine life — from how these majestic reptiles reproduced to how they adapted to oceans vastly different from those of today.An Ichthyosaur Maternity Ward in Patagonia(Image Courtesy of Irene Viscor)So far, 88 ichthyosaurs have been found on the Tyndall Glacier. Most of them are adults and newborns. Two key facts stand out: food was abundant, and no other predators were competing with them.Fiona, who measures nearly 13 feet long, is still encased in five blocks of rock. Despite the challenge, she was transported to a local clinic, where CT scans allowed researchers to study her skull and body. Her species was identified thanks to one of her fins. “There’s no other like it in the world,” says Pardo-Pérez. The limbs were remarkably elongated, suggesting this animal was built for long-distance swimming.Inside her, there were more surprises. One of them was her stomach contents, which revealed what may have been her last meal: tiny fish vertebrae. But the most striking find was a fetus, about 20 inches long, already in a position to be born.“We believe these animals came to Magallanes — the southern tip of Chilean Patagonia — from time to time to give birth, because it was a safe refuge,” Pardo-Pérez says. “We don't know how long they stayed, but we do know that mortality was high during the first few days of life.”One of the big unanswered questions is where they went next, as there are no records of Myobradypterygius hauthali, apart from a piece of fin found in Argentina. The most abundant remains come from southern Germany, but those date back to the Jurassic period, meaning they’re older.Palaeontologist Erin Maxwell suggests, “In many modern ecosystems, species migrate to higher latitudes during the summer to take advantage of seasonally abundant resources and then move to lower latitudes in winter to avoid harsh conditions,” she explains. “We believe Mesozoic marine reptiles may have followed similar seasonal patterns.”Sea Dragon GraveyardThe environment where Fiona was discovered — dubbed the "sea dragon graveyard" — also has much to reveal.According to geologist Matthew Malkowski of the University of Texas at Austin, the Hauterivian age is particularly intriguing because it coincided with major planetary changes: the breakup of continents, intense volcanic episodes, and phenomena known as "oceanic anoxic events," during which vast areas of the ocean were depleted of dissolved oxygen for hundreds of thousands of years.One such poorly understood event, the Pharaonic Anoxic Event, occurred around 131 million years ago, near the end of the Hauterivian, and still raises questions about its true impact on marine life. “We don't have a firm grasp of how significant these events were for marine vertebrates, and geological records like that of the Tyndall Glacier allow us to explore the relationship between life, the environment, and Earth’s past conditions,” Malkowski notes.Evolution of IchthyosaursReconstruction of Fiona. (Image Courtesy of Mauricio Álvarez)Don't be misled by their body shape. “Ichthyosaurs are not related to dolphins,” clarifies Pardo-Pérez. Although their hydrodynamic silhouettes may look nearly identical, the former were marine reptiles, while the latter are mammals. This resemblance results from a phenomenon known as convergent evolution: when species from different lineages develop similar anatomical features to adapt to the same environment.Ichthyosaurs evolved from terrestrial reptiles that, in response to ecological and climatic changes, began spending more time in the water until they fully adapted to a marine lifestyle. However, they retained traces of their land-dwelling ancestry, such as a pair of hind flippers — absent in dolphins — passed down from their walking forebears. They lived and thrived in prehistoric oceans for about 180 million years, giving them ample time to refine a highly specialized body: their forelimbs and hindlimbs transformed into flippers; they developed a crescent-shaped tail for propulsion, a dorsal fin for stability, and a streamlined body to reduce drag in the water. Remarkably, like whales and dolphins, “ichthyosaurs had a thick layer of blubber as insulation to maintain a higher body temperature than the surrounding seawater and gave birth to live young, which meant they didn’t need to leave the water to reproduce,” explains Maxwell.Whales and dolphins also descend from land-dwelling ancestors, but their transition happened over a comparatively short evolutionary timespan, especially when measured against the long reign of the ichthyosaurs. “Their evolution hasn't had as much time as that of ichthyosaurs,” notes Pardo-Pérez. “And yet, they look so similar. That’s the wonderful thing about evolution.”Read More: Did a Swimming Reptile Predate the Dinosaurs?Fossils on the Verge of DisappearanceOne of the key factors behind the remarkable preservation of the fossils found in the Tyndall Glacier is the way they were buried. According to Malkowski, Fiona and her contemporaries were either trapped or swiftly covered by underwater landslides and turbidity currents — geological processes that led to their sudden entombment.But the good fortune that protected them for millions of years may now be running out. As the glacier retreats, exposing fossils that were once unreachable, those same remains are now vulnerable to wind, rain, and freeze-thaw cycles, which crack the surrounding rock. As vegetation takes hold, roots accelerate erosion and eventually conceal the fossils once again.“While climate change has allowed these fossils to be studied, continued warming will also eventually lead to their loss,” Maxwell warns. In Fiona’s story, scientists find not only a record of ancient life, but also a warning etched in stone and bone: what time reveals, climate can reclaim.Article SourcesOur writers at Discovermagazine.com use peer-reviewed studies and high-quality sources for our articles, and our editors review for scientific accuracy and editorial standards. Review the sources used below for this article:María de los Ángeles Orfila is a science journalist based in Montevideo, Uruguay, focusing on long-form storytelling. Her work has appeared in Discover Magazine, Science, National Geographic, among other outlets, and in leading Uruguayan publications such as El País and El Observador. She was a fellow in the 2023 Sharon Dunwoody Mentoring Program by The Open Notebook and often explores the intersections of science, culture, and Latin American identity.

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