A fossil collected in 1985 on the Antarctic Peninsula and stored for four decades in a Cambridge archive has been identified as the first dinosaur bone ever discovered on the continent. The specimen — a single caudal vertebra from a titanosaur, a group of long-necked sauropods — was originally labelled as an unidentified large reptile by the geologist who found it on James Ross Island. Researchers at the British Antarctic Survey and London’s Natural History Museum have now confirmed its identity, publishing the finding in Acta Palaeontologica Polonica. The bone, roughly 10 cm across, is only the second sauropod fossil from Antarctica and pushes back the timeline of dinosaur discovery on the continent by one year, ahead of an ankylosaur partial skeleton found in 1986.

The identification, viewed from London, strengthens the hypothesis that the Antarctic Peninsula served as a dispersal corridor during the Late Cretaceous, when the continent was ice-free and connected to South America. The vertebra was found in marine rocks alongside ammonite fragments, suggesting the carcass was washed out to sea. Brazilian palaeontologists note that titanosaurs are well-documented in South America, and the new evidence makes it plausible that these animals migrated via Antarctica to New Zealand without traversing Australia, where no titanosaur fossils have been found. The specimen cannot determine species, age, or exact size, but it opens a window onto how the largest land animals moved across southern landmasses some 70 million years ago.

In a separate development, humpback whale populations off Rio de Janeiro have surged from an estimated 2,000 to around 35,000 over four decades, approaching pre-whaling levels, according to the Humpback Whale Project. The recovery follows the International Whaling Commission’s 1982 global moratorium on commercial whaling, which took effect in the 1985/86 season. The whales are now regularly sighted in Guanabara Bay, and the seasonal migration between June and November is fuelling a new whale-watching economy. Small-group sailboat excursions, accompanied by biologists, are being offered by operators such as the Rio Ocean Club, while a scientific expedition running from 26 June to 9 July aims to map travel routes and assess the health of the population.

These living giants contrast with the commercial value now attached to fossilised ones. In New York, Sotheby’s is preparing to auction “Gus,” a Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton discovered in South Dakota in 2021, with an estimate of $20–30 million — the highest ever placed on a dinosaur fossil. The specimen is 63% complete by bone count, with an 82% complete skull, and is one of only three T. rex skeletons of comparable size and completeness. The sale, scheduled for 14 July, follows the $44.6 million paid for a Stegosaurus at the same auction house in 2024. Meanwhile, a 119-year-old North Atlantic right whale skeleton, caught off New York in 1907, has been reinstalled at the Hull Maritime Museum after a £20 million refurbishment, with the museum set to reopen in August. In Chile, the private Tricao Park has restored 100 hectares of ravines and wetlands, creating a free-flight aviary for over 800 birds and a refuge for species displaced by drought and fire, illustrating how non-state conservation is gaining ground across Latin America.