“It's like winning the Paleontology World Cup”: A family found a 12-million-year-old whale skull on the shore (4 photos + 1 video)

Goddard family went ashore Chesapik Gulf in Maryland in search of sharks teeth, but found something larger: huge Kita skull is 12 million years old. So huge that Paleontologists took two months to extract it.






Koddi Goddard with his wife and son searched for shark teeth when We stumbled upon a one and a half meter skull of a whale weighing 295 kilograms. it occurred back in October, but due to the huge size of the skull It took two months to researchers of the Kalvert Marine Museum to extract him from under the ground. Stephen Godfrey, curator of the paleontology department in museum, said that making such a discovery is like "Win the World of Paleontology Cup."




Although Godfrey and his team believe that this is an ancient myocene A mustachioed whale, they have not yet been able to accurately determine the view. According to the museum, This is the most surviving skull of a whale of all that was found in the area Kalvert-cliff. The skull was named "Cody" in honor of the man who discovered him.

Researchers raised a whale skull to wooden boards to peel it from sand, after which it was taken along the coastline on Pontone boat to the truck that took him to the museum.





“In a sense, he created his own sarcophagus-his a small burial chamber that has preserved it for millions of years and allowed us to find it, ”said Godfrey Fox 6.

Researchers dated the skull with precipitation along the cliffs Kalvert, where fossil was found, and, based on the shape of the skull, They are sure that he belonged to a mustachioed whale.

“It was a hydrodynamic type of whale, so it probably could Swimming pretty quickly, ”said Godfrey. - And, of course, quickly It was desirable to swim, because at that time Megalodon floated around, and I had to do everything possible so as not to become the next dinner Megalodona. "




Scientists will use tools similar to miniature Jumping hammers to delicately remove hardened deposits, covering most of the skull - this process is expected to take months.