Mummified Penguins From 5,000 Years Ago Emerge From Antarctica's Snow

PUBLISHED
Yesterday

author
TOM HALE
Senior Journalist

Along the icy shores of Antarctica, scientists stumbled across the ancient preserved remains of penguins that have remained remarkably fresh thanks to the chilly conditions. Some of these penguin mummies may date as far back as 5,000 years ago, centuries before the Ancient Egyptians started to perform mummification using embalming.

Several ancient penguin boneyards were discovered in 2016 around Cape Irizar, a rocky cape along the Ross Sea in eastern Antarctica. Along with the bones and feathers of Adélie penguins, researchers came across several carcasses poking out of the melting snow that “appeared to be fresh.”

The sight was pretty surprising as there have been no records of an active penguin colony in this region since it was first laid eyes upon by Robert Falcon Scott and his team of explorers at the start of the 20th century.

Radiocarbon dating of the remains later revealed that these carcasses were extremely old, despite their youthful appearance, dating from three periods beginning 5,000 years ago and the most recent being 800 years ago.

More:
https://www.iflscience.com/mummified-penguins-from-5000-years-ago-emerge-from-antarcticas-snow-71182