Antarctica was once home to a rainforest, with vegetation growing near the South Pole about 90 million years ago despite months of darkness each year, as per aa TOI report. Evidence preserved in a seabed sediment core, including fossilised roots, pollen and spores, shows that the continent supported a wet, temperate ecosystem long before it became dominated by its vast ice sheet.
Climate evidence suggests the ancient forest experienced an average annual temperature of around 12°C. Later analysis of the same core also identified tiny fragments of amber, providing further evidence that resin-producing trees once grew in the region.
