Multimedia Gallery
Helicopter transporting fossil specimen in Antarctica
Helicopters like the one seen here help National Science Foundation (NSF)-supported researchers in Antarctica access hard-to-reach areas and collect large, intact fossil specimens that can weigh more than 100 pounds. Preserving an intact specimen allows researchers to extract additional information; for example, about the environment where the animal died. It also prevents the loss of important physiological information, since researchers need not carve up a specimen in order to carry it back to camp on foot.
[PHI Inc., a helicopter service based out of Lafayette, Louisiana, flies the U.S. Antarctic Program’s helicopters under a contract with the U.S. government.]
More about this image
This image appeared in the NSF/Discover magazine image gallery When dinosaurs roamed Antarctica. (Date image taken: Jan. 14, 2011; date originally posted to NSF Multimedia Gallery: June 20, 2018)
Credit: Eva Koppelhus
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