From the desert of Ica, along the southern coast of Peru, the fossilized remains of an animal dating back to almost 40 million years ago have resurfaced: an ancestor of whales and dolphins with huge and heavy bones, which suggests a sea monster of titanic proportions.
An article just published in the prestigious journal Nature offers a first analysis of the cetacean, which has been given the name of Perucetus colossus.
Among the international team of scientists that carried out the research, some paleontologists from the Department of Earth Sciences of the University of Pisa have a leading role: Professor Giovanni Bianucci, first author and coordinator of the research, Alberto Collareta and Marco Merella.
Other Italian geologists and paleontologists from the University of Milano-Bicocca (Elisa Malinverno and Giulia Bosio) and from the University of Camerino (Claudio Di Celma and Pietro Paolo Pierantoni) also participated in the research, supported by scholars from Perù and other European nationalities.