A Well-Preserved Whale Fossil Has Been Discovered on a California Mountain

The nearly intact fossil of a 4 - million - year old giant has been unearth at a construction site in Santa Cruz County . Discovered well above sea spirit level , the bones made their way to the mountains through the shifting of tectonic plate .

The whale was discovered on September 4 by a palaeontologist assigned to monitor a housing development in Scotts Valley . The remains of the mysticete hulk , an ascendent of the baleen whale , measures about 25 feet ( 7.6 meters ) long . It ’s uncommon to find such a well - maintain specimen , and scientist are emotional to have the chance to study a whale that live so long ago . In addition to the vertebra , the scientists were able-bodied to unearth pieces of the skull , jaw , shoulder blades , and arm pearl .

“ I think of the fossils you get along the coastline , it ’s more common to get a piece of the skull or the nous case or some bones,”notedUC Santa Cruz paleontologist Matthew Clapham in the Santa Cruz Sentinel . “ So this sounds like it ’s a very impressive find . ”

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Typically , only bits of shark tooth and marine fossils are found in the filth of Scotts Valley . But the breakthrough of a large vertebrae could offer insights into former whale evolution . This creature was alive around the fourth dimension that whales diverged from their other transmissible group , so the remains could divulge fresh sixth sense into the origins of modern whales .

The castanets made their direction to the James Jerome Hill of Santa Cruz over the course of trillion of long time as the seafloor slow lifted up through the shift of tectonic plates .

Currently , the scientists are incase the bones in plaster to keep up the remains and make tape transport easier . The castanets are scheduled to travel to Paleo Solutions ’ office in Monrovia , in Southern California .

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