The petrified remains of an ancient whale, which lived 36 million years ago and was discovered last year in a Peruvian desert, were revealed by paleontologists in March 2022.
The skull of a basilosaurus, an ancient whale, is seen in Lima, Peru on March 17, 2022.
"We have presented the new Peruvian basilosaurus, it is the complete skull of an archaic whale that lived 36 million years ago," said paleontologist Mario Urbina, who oversaw the team that found the bones, to AFP.
Approximately 350 kilometers (215 miles) south of Lima, in the Ocucaje Desert of the Ica department, the basilosaurus was discovered at the end of 2021, according to Urbina. Millions of years ago, the barren area was a shallow sea, and its dunes have preserved a staggering amount of strikingly prehistoric sea animal remains.
The "Ocucaje Predator," as the researchers named it, was around 17 meters (55 feet) long and fed on tuna, sharks, and schools of sardines with the help of its enormous, powerful teeth.
According to Urbina, a researcher at the National University of San Marcos in Lima, "this discovery is very important because there are no other similar specimens discovered in the world."
The basilosaurus distinguishes from other known ancient whale species by its size and the development of its teeth, both of which suggest the animal was probably at the top of the food chain, according to team member Rodolfo Salas-Gismondi.
The excellent condition of preservation makes this a remarkable find, he told AFP. One of the biggest predators of its era was this creature.
Salas-Gismondi, who oversees the Department of Vertebrate Paleontology at the Natural History Museum in Lima, continued, "At that period, the Peruvian water was warm. "We can reconstruct the history of the Peruvian sea thanks to this type of fossil."
About 55 million years ago, the first cetaceans, including the basilosaurus, diverged from land creatures.
Cetaceans had reached full adaptation to marine life by the late Eocene epoch (between 56 million and 34 million years ago).
According to the research team, whales had not yet undergone evolution and the majority of cetaceans were marine macropredators.
Fossils from the Ocucaje Desert, according to the experts, have been around for 42 million years, giving scientists proof of evolution.
Other fossils discovered there date to the Miocene epoch (between 23 million and 5 million years ago), and include four-legged dwarf whales, dolphins, sharks, and other species.
