4-Million-Year-Old Baleen Whale Ancestor Unearthed At California Construction Site

Paleontologists in California found a whale fossil in the most unlikely of the locations- the Santa Cruz Mountains.

The whale was found at a construction site which scientists suspected would yield archaeology significant finds. After it was spotted, researchers used small tools to unearth the 25-foot fossil. According to Tech Times, the fossil was nearly intact as researchers found skull, shoulder blades, arm bones, jaw and vertebrae.

The find has thrown up interesting questions, including how whales which live and die in the depths of the oceans, made their way to the mountains.

Researchers believe that the movement of tectonic plates over millions of years would have pushed fossils up the hills.

"Most places where you see a hill, somewhere there's a fault line nearby pushing it up. They're relatively inactive faults. But yeah, it's from lifting thousands, maybe millions of years ago," said paleontologist Scott Armstrong reportedly said according to Christian Science Monitor.

The whale is estimated to be 4 million years old. The specimen is believed to a mysticete whale, an ancient ancestor of baleen whales. Given its estimated age, the specimen could be crucial in furthering understanding of whale evolution.