By Marco Aquino and Carlos Valdez
© Reuters/SEBASTIAN CASTANEDA 36 million-year-old Basilosaurus whale fossil displayed in Lima
LIMA (Reuters) - 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, scientists announced on Thursday.
LIMA (Reuters) - 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, scientists announced on Thursday.
© Reuters/SEBASTIAN CASTANEDA 36 million-year-old Basilosaurus whale fossil displayed in Lima
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, Rodolfo Salas, chief of paleontology at Peru's National University of San Marcos, told reporters at a news conference
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, Rodolfo Salas, chief of paleontology at Peru's National University of San Marcos, told reporters at a news conference
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© Reuters/SEBASTIAN CASTANEDA 36 million-year-old Basilosaurus whale fossil displayed in Lima
Scientists think the ancient mammal was a basilosaurus, part of the aquatic cetacean family, whose contemporary descendents 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.
The one-time top predator likely measured some 12 meters (39 feet) long, or about the height of a four-story building.
"It was a marine monster," said Salas, adding the skull, which has already been put on display at the university's museum, may belong to a new species of basilosaurus.
Scientists think the ancient mammal was a basilosaurus, part of the aquatic cetacean family, whose contemporary descendents 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.
The one-time top predator likely measured some 12 meters (39 feet) long, or about the height of a four-story building.
"It was a marine monster," said Salas, adding the skull, which has already been put on display at the university's museum, may belong to a new species of basilosaurus.
© Reuters/SEBASTIAN CASTANEDA 36 million-year-old Basilosaurus whale fossil displayed in Lima
"When it was searching for its food, it surely did a lot of damage," added Salas.
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.
"Back during this age, the conditions for fossilization were very good in Ocucaje," he said.
(Reporting by Marco Aquino and Carlos Valdez; Writing by David Alire Garcia; Editing by Karishma Singh)
"When it was searching for its food, it surely did a lot of damage," added Salas.
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.
"Back during this age, the conditions for fossilization were very good in Ocucaje," he said.
(Reporting by Marco Aquino and Carlos Valdez; Writing by David Alire Garcia; Editing by Karishma Singh)
ICE HUNT
JAMES ROLLINS
RELEASED ON: Jul 01, 2003
Carved into a moving island of ice twice the size of the United States, Ice Station Grendel has been abandoned for more than seventy years. The twisted brainchild of the finest minds of the former Soviet Union, it was designed to be inaccessible and virtually invisible.
But an American undersea research vessel has inadvertently pulled too close – and something has been sighted moving inside the allegedly deserted facility, something whose survival defies every natural law. And now, as scientists, soldiers, intelligence operatives, and unsuspecting civilians are drawn into Grendel’s lethal vortex, the most extreme measures possible will be undertaken to protect its dark mysteries – because the terrible truths locked behind submerged walls of ice and steel could end human life on Earth.
RELEASED ON: Jul 01, 2003
Carved into a moving island of ice twice the size of the United States, Ice Station Grendel has been abandoned for more than seventy years. The twisted brainchild of the finest minds of the former Soviet Union, it was designed to be inaccessible and virtually invisible.
But an American undersea research vessel has inadvertently pulled too close – and something has been sighted moving inside the allegedly deserted facility, something whose survival defies every natural law. And now, as scientists, soldiers, intelligence operatives, and unsuspecting civilians are drawn into Grendel’s lethal vortex, the most extreme measures possible will be undertaken to protect its dark mysteries – because the terrible truths locked behind submerged walls of ice and steel could end human life on Earth.
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