Paleontologists on Thursday 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.
The"Ocucaje Predator," as the researchers dubbed it, was about 17 meters long and used its massive, powerful teeth to feed on tuna, sharks and schools of sardines. Team member Rodolfo Salas-Gismondi explained the basilosaurus differs from other known ancient whale species by its size and the development of its teeth, both of which indicate the animal was likely at the top of the food chain.
"At that time the Peruvian sea was warm," added Salas-Gismondi, who heads the Department of Vertebrate Paleontology at the Natural History Museum in Lima."Thanks to this type of fossil, we can reconstruct the history of the Peruvian sea."By the late Eocene period , cetaceans had fully adapted toWhales had not yet evolved, and almost all cetaceans were marine macropredators, according to the research team.
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