A team of professors and students from Georgia Southern University are doing incredible work on the banks of the Flint River, where the fossil of an ancient whale has been discovered.
About 35 million years ago, the ocean covered a great deal of what is now North America. The state of Georgia happened to be one of the areas in which whales once swam. After two years of effort, three students and two professors share the honor in digging up the remains of a great whale that never made it out of Georgia – the 70-foot-long bassilosaurus.
While the head and tail have been located, and about 8 feet of spine successfully recovered, much of the fossil is encased in limestone, which will have to be broken away from the bones in a tedious and long process. According to WALB news, much of that process will take place inside the university, so that the bones can be properly extracted from the rock in a more controlled environment. Once ready, the skeleton of the bassilosaurus will be on display at Georgia Southern University’s museum.
The incredible discovery was first made by rangers with the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, who in turn told the professors about the fossil.