Scientists discover Skull of Marine Monster in Peru

Paleontologists have unearthed the skull of a ferocious marine predator, an ancient ancestor of modern-day whales, which once lived in a prehistoric ocean that covered part of what is now Peru.

Rodolfo Salas, chief of paleontology at Peru’s National University of San Marcos, told reporters at a news conference that the roughly 36-million-year-old well-preserved skull was dug up intact last year from the bone-dry rocks of Peru’s southern Ocucaje desert, with rows of long, pointy teeth.

Scientists think the ancient mammal was a basilosaurus, part of the aquatic cetacean family, whose contemporary descendants include whales, dolphins and porpoises. Basilosaurus means King Lizard, although the animal was not a reptile, though its long body might have moved like a giant snake.

Scientists believe the first cetaceans evolved from mammals that lived on land some 55 million years ago, about 10 million years after an asteroid struck just off what is now Mexico’s Yucatan peninsula, wiping out most life on Earth, including the dinosaurs.

Salas explained that when the ancient basilosaurus died, its skull likely sunk to the bottom of the sea floor, where it was quickly buried and preserved.

Reuters / Crickey Conservation Society since 2006.

4 Comments on “Scientists discover Skull of Marine Monster in Peru

  1. Our history has been tempted with so the people stay dumb and can be robbed of their hard worked money, however the History Channel has this program called Ancient Aliens, this will open the mind for a little bit, but at least creates the foundation of starting to uncover our goals in real life on planet Earth.

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