36-million-year-old whale fossil found in Peruvian desert

PERU: Paleontologists unveiled the fossilized remains of an ancient whale that inhabited the seas 36 million years ago, found last year in a Peruvian desert.

“We have presented the new Peruvian basilosaurus, it is the complete skull of an archaic whale that lived 36 million years ago,” paleontologist Mario Urbina, head of the team that discovered the skeleton, told AFP.

Urbina said the basilosaurus was found at the end of 2021 in the Ocucaje Desert in the Ica department, about 350 kilometers (215 miles) south of Lima. The desolate landscape was a shallow sea millions of years ago, and its dunes have yielded large numbers of striking primitive sea mammal remains.

The “Ocucaje Predator,” as the researchers dubbed it, was about 17 meters (55 feet) long and used its massive, powerful teeth to feed on tuna, sharks and schools of sardines.

– THE BANGKOK POST