3-million-year-old whale found at San Diego Zoo

Washington, Sep 20 (ANI): Construction workers at the San Diego Zoo have apparently found a three-million-year-old whale at the site.

The workmen constructing a storm water equalization tank were using an excavator to dig through fine grain sand, when suddenly the machine struck a solid item, reports Discovery News.

Further investigation revealed that this obstacle was an enormous prehistoric whale.

Our genus, Homo, wasn't even around 3 million years ago, so this wasn't some sort of super prehistoric zoo. The site then, during the Pliocene, was under water.

The 24-foot baleen whale appeared to be very well preserved, with much of the fossilized skeleton present.

Finding an intact skull, along with the vertebrae and flippers, is quite rare, said Sarah Siren of the San Diego Natural History Museum.

The skull and other large pieces will be encapsulated in plaster jackets while smaller pieces, including vertebrae, are being cleaned with brushes and boxed up to be moved to the museum's laboratory for analysis of the finds.

The age of this whale is interesting, as it coincides with what's known as The Great American Interchange, where various land and freshwater faunas migrated between North and South America. (ANI)