36-million-year-old cetacean fossil found in Peru

Fossilized remains of an Ocucaje Basilosaurus, a cetacean that inhabited the seas of Peru millions of years ago, were presented for the first time at the Museum of Natural History of the Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos.

The discovery of the gigantic skull, which measures 1.35 metres and preserves its sharp teeth intact, was made last year by a team of researchers led by paleontologist Mario Urbina.  The skull found in the Ocucaje desert, department of Ica, belongs to a very archaic cetacean, about 36 million years old.

"A fossil that is in a great state of preservation and that allows us to know much more about the animals that existed in the Peruvian sea in the past," said palaeontologist, Salas-Gismondi. It is estimated that the specimen could have reached a total length of 12 to 13 metres.