Arctic dwelling Ichthyosaurs

[sauroid]

Ancient marine reptiles inhabited the icy waters of the north

http://www.eartharchives.org/articles/ancient-marine-reptiles-inhabited-the-icy-waters-of-the-north

[CityRaptor]

Interesting, but not exactly unexpected, given similar finds of other marine reptiles.

[Paleogene Pals]

Yeah, but would there have been that much ice at the poles as the illustration suggests? I thought the poles were warmer during this time.

[Halichoeres]

Yeah, but would there have been that much ice at the poles as the illustration suggests? I thought the poles were warmer during this time.

Good question. The poles would be colder than the rest of the earth, but I have no idea if there would have been polar ice caps during the Mesozoic.

[LophoLeeVT]

but if ictyosaurus inhabited the artic could animals like liopleorodon live there too

[CityRaptor]

Given the presnece of plesiosaurs under similar conditions, I would say yes.

[SBell]

Yeah, but would there have been that much ice at the poles as the illustration suggests? I thought the poles were warmer during this time.

Good question. The poles would be colder than the rest of the earth, but I have no idea if there would have been polar ice caps during the Mesozoic.

As far as I have known, there were no ice caps in the latter Mesozoic. There weren't really any until the Oligocene.

But there could have been localized freezing during winter, since there were still seasons based on orientation of the planet relative to the sun.