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An Alabama high school student and her instructor have discovered the fossilized corpse of a whale that lived 34 million years ago . The animal is believe to be a carnivorous whale that lived during theEocene epoch(56 million to 33.9 million year ago ) — a time when sea levels were high and the body politic was submerged by a shallow sea .
Lindsey Stallworth , 16 , andAndrew Gentry , an evolutionary biologist and teacher at the Alabama School of Mathematics and Science , were moil on Stallworth ’s family ’s forest attribute in Monroe County as part of a summertime school labor , with Stallworth having previously found fossilised shark teeth there .
Andrew Gentry and Lindsey Stallworth found the whale skull on her family’s timber farm in Alabama.
After just a few hours of searching , the pair found huge osseous tissue protruding from a mound . " We see something and we were like ' oh my gosh , what is this ? ' " Stallworth toldAL.com . " Once we started excavate into it and looking , we lento realized what we had actually institute . "
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Gentry distinguish Live Science they ab initio had " very little idea " of what they had find — other than it being a enceinte vertebrate . After about a week of easy clear away the excess rock with dental picks and small chisels , they managed to reveal a large tooth from the lower jaw of a big animal .
Gentry and Stallworth excavate the 34 million-year-old whale skull.(Image credit: Drew Gentry/Alabama School of Mathematics and Science)
" I sent photographs of the tooth to my good friend and paleontological colleague , Dr. James Parham , at the University of California , Fullerton , who in turn sent them toDr . Jorge Velez - Juarbeat the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles , " Gentry said in an electronic mail . " Dr. Velez - Juarbe specializes in fossil marine mammal , and he was able to identify our find as a coinage of carnivorous whale . "
He said the geology of the dig site had been previously dated , meaning they could settle the age of the fogey straight away .
The hulk ’s exact species has yet to be determined . During the Eocene , Alabama was domicile to a host of primitive whales , includingBasilosaurus cetoides — a fierce marine mammalian that exist 34 million to 40 million year ago and grow up to 60 metrical foot ( 18 meters ) long . The new specimen could be a never - before - seen coinage in the Basilosauridae crime syndicate .
The skull was found on Stallworth’s family property.(Image credit: Drew Gentry/Alabama School of Mathematics and Science)
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Gentry and Stallworth after the skull was excavated.(Image credit: Drew Gentry/Alabama School of Mathematics and Science)
" We ’ve only excavate the skull and most of what we ’ve excavated is still encased in endocarp , " Gentry say . " We are reasonably certain that the giant is an archaeocete [ naive ] whale in the kinsfolk Basilosauridae , but it will be several months before we have expose enough of the skull to key the species the whale belongs to . "
The skull has now been taken to the Alabama School of Math and Science , where it is being cleared and studied . Gentry and Stallworth programme to restart digging next year .
" Right now , we only have the skull , but we uncovered several postcranial component during the excavation of the skull which argue that more of the skeleton is present , " Gentry read . " We will know more next summer ! "
