Research
A fossil pygmy sperm whale discovered in Peru might hold the record for the most uneven, lopsided face of any mammal ever recorded
Earth.com · By Adrian Villellas ·
The Brief
- A fossil pygmy sperm whale skull from southern Peru's Pisco Formation is highly asymmetric.
- The skull was found in the mid-1990s and was examined in 2015 by Aldo Benites-Palomino during his bachelor's thesis at the Museo de Historia Natural in Lima.
- The find might hold the record for the most lopsided face of any mammal recorded.
Why it matters
It documents an unusually lopsided skull in a fossil toothed whale, which is relevant to research on cetacean skull anatomy and evolution.
Who’s affected
- paleontologists and marine mammal researchers
- #paleontology
- #cetacean
- #fossil
- #peru
- #skull-anatomy
In 2015, Aldo Benites-Palomino was working on his bachelor’s thesis at the Museo de Historia Natural in Lima, Peru, when he examined a fossil sperm whale skull that looked twisted. The skull had been found in the mid-1990s in the Pisco Formation of southern Peru. It stayed…