Science
First Antarctic Dinosaur Fossil Misidentified for 40 Years in Museum Drawer
Reality Check with Ross Coulthart
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"This happens a lot. This is science. This is how science works. We go out as paleontologists, we collect fossils and we try to interpret those fossils. Sometimes though we don't have a lot to go on. We get things wrong and another scientist might come and look at what we found and say wait a minute that's not correct."
A fossil discovered in Antarctica in 1985 and believed to be a marine reptile was recently identified as the first dinosaur fossil ever found on the continent—a titanosaur bone that sat misidentified in a British museum drawer for nearly 40 years. Paleontologist Steve Brusatte explained that such misidentifications are common in science and that modern CT scanning and 3D imaging technologies enabled researchers to correctly identify the 82-million-year-old fossil. The discovery raises questions about what other misidentified specimens may exist in museum collections worldwide.
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Reality Check with Ross Coulthart