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Editor Josie Chaffin

Along the southern coast of Peru, the fossil of a four-legged whale was excavated from Playa Media Luna.The fossil is said to come from the Cetacean family, the classification of dolphins and whales, but some of its characteristics are quite different from the norm. According to Sciencedaily.com, this particular family of marine mammal migrated from Asia over 50 million years ago.

A team composed of representative paleontologists from France, Belgium, Peru, the Netherlands, and a few more came together to a spot in Peru known as a “promising location”. As it turned out, that location was along the coast of Peru in Playa Media Luna. After discovering this groundbreaking fossil, many days and hours were put into successfully excavating every remainder of the Cetacean.

The fossil was later deemed the “Peregocetus pacificus” by the team of researchers. The fossil itself was dated at around 43 million years of age. This location is perfect for where the ancestors of modern-day whales would have been located around this time.

“This is the first indisputable record of a quadrupedal whale skeleton for the whole Pacific Ocean, probably the oldest for the Americas, and the most complete outside India and Pakistan,” states Dr. Lambert, a scientist of the Royal Belgium Institute.

He later went on to state that the “...presence of small hooves at the tip of the whale’s fingers and toes and its hip and limbs morphology all suggest that this whale could walk on land…[but] on the other hand, anatomical features of the tail and feet, including long, likely webbed appendages, similar to an otter, indicate that it was a good swimmer too,” states Dr. Lambert and his comrades.

Sci-news.com, to back up this claim, states that the 13 ft. long mammal was capable of maneuvering around on both land and in water quite easily. It was even equipped with webbed paws that suggests an obsequious relevance to modern day otters and beavers.

Another discovery linking this age old mammal to modern day whales is the animal’s tail. While the fossil’s own tail held more relevance to that of a modern day beaver or otter, it is claimed that the large, round tail was the basis for what would become the flat, broad whale tail we know today.

The team of researchers went on to explain that the surface currents, which flowed westward, would have helped the ancestor on its journey from Africa over 50 million years ago, and that the journey was actually half the length is is today due to the motion of tectonic plates and mid ocean rifts. During its journey, the Eocene epoch ancestor hit South America, and then later continued on to North America. This fossilized evidence suggests that many of scientists’ theories were correct on the migration of ancient Cetaceans.

An artist’s rendering, done by Alberto Gennari of the creature depicts a sort of anteater like creature equipped with a long face, sharp, jagged teeth, broad shoulders and squat (but very powerful) legs. (See image(s) below).