Scientists have accidentally found life under 3,000 feet of ice in Antarctica. “Never in a million years,” they would have expected, the chief scientist said.

• Scientists have found life under 3,000 feet of ice in Antarctica.

• They found two species of unknown animals, where they thought nothing could live.

• Their next step is to find a way to be close enough to identify the creatures.

• Visit the Insider Business Department for more stories.

Scientists found life in Antarctica below 3,000 meters of ice, challenging their assumption that nothing could live in such conditions.

The previous theory was that life could not exist in such an end: no food, icy temperatures and total darkness.

The creatures are attached to a boulder in the icy sea beneath the Filchner-Ronne ice shelf. Experts from the British Antarctic Survey 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 melts overnight?

“The area under this ice shelf is probably one of the least known habitats on earth,” Huw Griffiths, one of the scientists who made the discovery, said in a Twitter video.

“We did not think that this kind of animal, like sponges, would be found there.”

The Filchner-Ronne ice shelf is a massive floating ice sheet that stretches from Antarctica.

It spans more than 579,000 square kilometers, but little has been explored under the ice.

Enormous icebergs occasionally break off ice shelves and drift away. In December, one of these icebergs threatened to collapse into a breeding ground for seals and penguins.

The scientists did not seek life.

They drilled through the ice sheet to retrieve samples from the seabed. Instead, their camera hit a boulder. When they reviewed the footage from the camera, it revealed this discovery.

“We would never have thought in a million years of looking for this kind of life because we did not think it would be there,” Griffiths told The Guardian.

The story continues

The video reveals two species of unknown animals, which are shown here in a video from the British Antarctic Survey. The red animal appears to have long stems, while another species of animal, highlighted in white, resembles a round spongy animal.

Other studies have looked at life under ice sheets. Some mobile animals, such as fish, worms, jellyfish or krill, can be found in that habitat.

But it was thought that the deeper life can be found, the deeper and further away from a light source that extends the habitat.

Read more: Disney closes the animation studio behind the ‘Ice Age’ movies. Some staff members say they are shocked by the lack of communication and feel betrayed that the final film will not be released.

According to scientists, these animals are about 160 kilometers from the open sea.

“Our discovery raises so many more questions than it answers, like how did they get there?” Griffith said in a press release. “What are they eating? How long have they been there?”

The scientists said their next step was to understand if the animals were of a previously unknown species.

“To answer our questions, we need to find a way to get up close to these animals and their environment,” Griffiths said.

Life in 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 mainland was only reported in December.

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