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Scientists found life under 3,000 feet of ice in Antarctica.
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They found two types of unidentified animals, where they thought nothing could live.
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The next step is to find a way to get close enough to identify the creatures.
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Scientists found life under 3,000 feet under the ice in Antarctica, challenging the assumption that nothing could live in such conditions.
The previous theory was that life could not exist at such an extreme: without food, freezing temperatures and total darkness.
The creatures were found attached to a rock in the cold seas under the Filchner-Ronne ice shelf. British Antarctic Survey experts drilled 2,860 feet of ice and then another 1,549 feet of water before making the discovery.
Video: What if the Earth’s ice melted overnight?
“The area under these ice shelves is probably one of the least known habitats on Earth,” said Huw Griffiths, one of the scientists who made the discovery, in a Twitter video.
“We don’t think that these types of animals, like sponges, would be found there.”
The Filchner-Ronne ice shelf is a huge floating ice sheet that extends from Antarctica.
It spans more than 579,000 square miles, but little has been explored under the ice.
From time to time, huge icebergs break the ice shelves and move away. In December, one of these icebergs threatened to collide with breeding ground for sea lions and penguins.
Scientists did not set out to find life.
They were drilling through the ice sheet to collect samples from the seabed. Instead, your camera hit a rock. When they reviewed the footage from the camera, she revealed that discovery.
“Never in a million years would we have thought about looking for that kind of life, because we didn’t think it would be there,” Griffiths told The Guardian.
The video reveals two types of unidentified animals, shown here in a video from the British Antarctic Survey. Animals in red appear to have long stems, while another type of animal, highlighted in white, looks more like a round spongy animal.
Other studies have examined life under ice sheets. Some mobile animals, such as fish, worms, jellyfish or krill, can be found in this habitat.
But it was thought that the deeper and farther from a light source the habitat extended, the less likely that life could be found.
Read More: Disney is closing the animation studio behind the ‘Ice Age’ films. Some officials say they are shocked by the lack of communication and feel betrayed because the final film will not be released.
Scientists say these animals are about 160 miles from the open sea.
“Our discovery raises many more questions than answers, for example, how did they get there?” Griffith said in a press release. “What are they eating? How long have they been there?”
The scientists said the next step would be to understand whether the animals were of a previously unknown species.
“To answer our questions, we will have to find a way to get closer to these animals and their environment,” said Griffiths.
Life at research stations in Antarctica is not easy, as Monica Humpfries of Insider reported.
They are so remote that the first case of COVID-19 on the continent was only reported in December.
Read the original article on Business Insider