Standing about 12-feet tall, these hardy creatures inhabited the area close to the South Pole for at least 10 million years during the Cretaceous period, an expert said.

Palaeontologists from Australia and the United States came by their findings after uncovering three separate fossil footprints measuring about 14 inches long, each with at least two or three partial toes.

The footprints were found close to the shoreline in Victoria, Australia, in February 2006 and February 2007.

"(They are) the biggest carnivores we have from polar southeastern Australia ... in other words (large) dinosaurs could live in these unusual environments," said Thomas Rich, curator of vertebrate palaeontology at the Museum of Victoria.