Scientists uncover secrets of whale graveyard in Chile
Thursday, February 27, 2014 - 19:01
in Paleontology & Archaeology
Scientists believe they can now explain the mass graveyard of whales and other marine life discovered beside the Pan-American Highway in Chile. The fossils - preserved more than five million years ago - are the result of four mass strandings, said a report in the Royal Society Journal. Researchers uncovered strong evidence to suggest that the whales died after ingesting toxic algae. The dead animals were then swept into an estuary and onto flat land where they they were eventually buried by sand.