Largest Whale Fossile Bed Unearthed in Chile

For seven million years at least 80 ancient whale skeletons have been preserved in the high desert of Chile. Now a road project threatens the ancient burial ground. But developers of the new highway project have given scientists another month to remove and study as much of the area as they can.

3D modelers and paleontologists from the Smithsonian have been on site in Chile trying to gather as much data as they can before the highway expansion project resumes in Copiapo near the city of Caldera in the northern part of Chile.

Site manager John Vega says, “In 15 days, we have had almost 15 whales. It really was a surprise. We didn’t expect to find so many fossils in one place.”

In one location the team found what they believe to be a mother, father and whale calf all lying next to one another. The team has been working on the site since May.

Palaeontologist Sol Squire says, “The whale discovery is a discovery of global importance. There has never been a find of this size or diversity anywhere in the world, which is one of the very special parts of Atacama region.”

Chief palaeontologist Mario Suarez says the discovery has huge significance because the site is one of the world’s best-preserved graveyards of prehistoric whales. And, he says it is one of the richest sites because the science team found new species.

Other groups of prehistoric whales have been found together in Peru and Egypt, but the Chilean fossils stand out for their staggering number and beautifully preserved bones. Over 20 of the 80 skeletons are nearly intact, something that is crucial for new research and to determine how the animals all ended up in the same area.

That is the top question on the mind of Suarez, the director of the local Paleontological Museum in nearby Caldera. He is focused on how the this group of aquatic animals which died between two and seven million years ago wound up over 1,200 feet above sea level on top of a desert hill, about 40 miles from the nearest beach.

In addition to ancient whales, the team found an extinct aquatic sloth, an ancient seabird with a wingspan of over 17 feet, and the fossil remains of an unusual tusked dolphin that had previously been unearthed only in Peru.

A vertebrate paleontologist at Museum Victoria in Melbourne, Australia told the Associate Press that the well-preserved and relatively complete fossil bed provides a “rare combination in paleontology and one that will likely shed light on many facets of the ecology and evolution of these extinct species.”