A new study published on Wednesday in the journal Nature has revealed that a mysterious fossil discovered in Antarctica in 2011 turned out to be a giant soft-shell egg from 68 million years ago. Measuring 29 cm by 20 cm, it is the first fossil egg found in Antarctica and the largest soft-shell egg that the world has ever seen. /VCG

The fossil egg, shaped like a deflated American football, was found on Seymour Island off the coast of Antarctica by Chilean researchers during a scientific expedition. It had sat in the Chilean National Museum of Natural History for almost a decade before being studied. There was nothing left inside the egg to prove what animal it once carried. Scientists speculate that it was laid by a giant marine reptile. /VCG