75 Fossilised Whales Discovered In Chilean Desert (Slideshow)

AMAZING Fossil Find Baffles Scientists (Photos)

Archaeologists were baffled when they discovered 75 fossilised whales in a desert in Chile.

Pictures of the 2010 find, recently released to the Associated Press, show the dramatic scale of the animals discovered embedded in the rock.

Believed to be more than 2m to 7m years old, the fossilised skeletons were discovered just yards apart in the Atacama desert near Copiapo, Chile.

Among the finds was a dolphin-like animal with tusks similar to a walrus.

Researchers from the Smithsonian Institution are studying how the whales came to be discovered in one of the driest areas on Earth. Some suppose that the area was once a lagoon, and the whales died when it dried up. Others suggest the whales may have intentionally beached themselves. Scientists are still researching the conundrum.

The bones were discovered during road-construction in June 2010, and while other groups of prehistoric whales have been found in South America experts say this site is among the largest and best preserved. Hundreds more whales could be lying in wait to be discovered, they claim.

Take a look at the amazing pictures below.

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