According to an article on NASA’s Earth Observatory pages (UNIQUE FOSSIL DISCOVERY SHOWS ANTARCTIC WAS ONCE MUCH WARMER), shrimp-like fossils were found in a 14 million year old lake in the Dry Valleys of the East Antarctic region.

Although these tiny fossils are commonly found, the Antarctic ostrapods are very well preserved and provide proof that the region was once much warmer. The Antarctic’s extreme cold conditions could never have sustained organisms such as these.

Doctor Mark Williams from the University of Leicester Department of Geology said that “Present conditions in this Antarctic region show mean annual temperatures of minus 25 degrees C. These are impossible conditions to sustain a lake fauna with ostracods.”

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