Case file · Anomaly hotspot
The mummified seals of the Dry Valleys
Hundreds of seal carcasses, freeze-dried for centuries, lie in Antarctica's Dry Valleys up to 66 km from the sea and 1,800 m up; in 2012 a University of Waikato team showed how they reshape the microbes in the soil beneath them.
2012 CE · -77.50, 162.00 · status: unexplained
The account
Most are crabeater and Weddell seals, some hundreds or thousands of years old. Why young seals crawled so far inland to die is still not known; disease, disorientation and storms have been suggested. The team moved one mummy 150 m and watched the soil microbes under it change within two summers.
The sceptical view
Lost or sick animals are the likely cause; the cold, dry air simply preserves them.