Recent findings indicate that Antarctica once hosted expansive forests teeming with flora and fauna. German and English scientists have uncovered amber dating back over 80 million years, preserving secrets about conifer trees in this now frigid region.
Alongside fossils of roots, pollen, and spores, the amber provides evidence of a swampy rainforest that existed near the South Pole during the mid-Cretaceous period. This prehistoric ecosystem was dominated by conifers, similar to present-day forests in New Zealand and Patagonia.
The extraction of amber in Antarctica unveils an ancient habitat that was once warm and humid enough to support resin-producing trees. Prior to this discovery, scientists had only found Cretaceous amber deposits in southern Australia and New Zealand.