Cranium of primitive whale dating back 36 million years discovered, displayed in Peru

STORY: Cranium of primitive whale dating back 36 million years discovered, displayed in Peru DATELINE: March 20, 2022 LENGTH: 00:01:38 LOCATION: Lima CATEGORY: SOCIETY SHOTLIST: 1. various of the exhibit 2. SOUNDBITE (Spanish): RODOLFO SALAS-GISMONDI, Director of Vertebrate Paleontology at Natural History Museum in Peru STORYLINE: Peruvian paleontologists have discovered the fossilized cranium of a basilosaurus, a primitive whale dating back 36 million years. The cranium measures 1.35 meters in length and contains sharp teeth which remain intact. This discovery was registered at the end of 2021 by a team of investigators led by the paleontologist Mario Urbina, who profoundly carried out this project in the desert area known as Ocucaj found in the southern region of Ica. The giant cranium belongs to an ancient forerunner of whales and comes from rocks dating to the Eocene age, as the Director of the Vertebrate Paleontology Department at the Natural History Museum Rodolfo Salas-Gismond explained. SOUNDBIT