slideshow

A Squalodontid Success

On a beach in Piña, Panama the tide is rolling out. Faint outlines of skeletal...

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Smithsonian Scientists Describe a New Fossil Whale

Monodontids, the group of whales that includes living belugas and narwhals, are...

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Preparing a Fossil Whale Specimen

Paleobiologist Mark D. Uhen drills away rock to reveal the fossilized bones of...

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Bones and Teeth of South America's Oldest Fossil Whales

These are fossil remains of archaeocetes, ancient whales, from the Paracas...

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Searching for Fossil Whales in Peru

George Mason University professor Mark D. Uhen and Dr. Matthew Lewin of the...

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Panama Expedition Success

Paeleobiologist Dr. Nicholas Pyenson, Curator of Fossil Marine Mammals for the...

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Ancient Sea Cow Vertebra

A fossil vertebra that a Smithsonian researcher's mother found while prospecting in...

Article

Flippers or Feet? An Extinct Mammal May Have Been Replaced By Today's Sea Cows

In the seagrass beds and kelp forests of the Oligocene-Miocene transition, nearly...

Article

The Whale Graveyard Whodunit

One of the ocean's tiniest organisms often does the most harm. Microscopic algae...

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The Digsite at Cerro Ballena

Chilean and Smithsonian paleontologists study several fossil whale skeletons at...

Personal Perspectives

Whale fossils on the mainland, and into a CT scanner

After a few long days of hard work on the island, we were finally able to excavate...

Personal Perspectives

Dispatches from the Field: Treacherous stream crossings and a new fossil find

We departed from Port Renfrew on Tuesday morning on the Michelle Diana, a boat...