Sign up for CNN’s Wonder Theory science newsletter. Explore the universe with news on fascinating discoveries, scientific advancements and more.(CNN) — Picture a dolphin. Now imagine one that’s twice the size of a person.Around 16 million years ago, a dolphin giant cruised the depths of its watery domain. But unlike most modern dolphins, its home wasn’t an ocean; it lived in a freshwater lake in the Peruvian Amazon. And though there are Amazonian freshwater dolphin species alive today, they aren’t close kin to that ancient cetacean. Its closest living relatives are river dolphins living more than 6,000 miles (10,000 kilometers) away in South Asia, according to researchers who recently described the previously unknown extinct mammal.Analysis of the newly identified ancient dolphin’s skull told paleontologists that its body would have measured at least 11 feet (3.5 meters) long — making it about 20% to 25% bigger than modern river dolphins and the biggest known freshwater dolphin.But the skull, which measured about 27 inches (70 centimeters) long, was incomplete, so the ancient dolphin may have been even larger than that, the scientists reported March 20 in the journal Science Advances, published by the American Association for the Advancement of Science.What makes the find even more exceptional the insight it offers into t …
Article Attribution | Read More at Article Source
[mwai_chat context=”Let’s have a discussion about this article:nnSign up for CNN’s Wonder Theory science newsletter. Explore the universe with news on fascinating discoveries, scientific advancements and more.(CNN) — Picture a dolphin. Now imagine one that’s twice the size of a person.Around 16 million years ago, a dolphin giant cruised the depths of its watery domain. But unlike most modern dolphins, its home wasn’t an ocean; it lived in a freshwater lake in the Peruvian Amazon. And though there are Amazonian freshwater dolphin species alive today, they aren’t close kin to that ancient cetacean. Its closest living relatives are river dolphins living more than 6,000 miles (10,000 kilometers) away in South Asia, according to researchers who recently described the previously unknown extinct mammal.Analysis of the newly identified ancient dolphin’s skull told paleontologists that its body would have measured at least 11 feet (3.5 meters) long — making it about 20% to 25% bigger than modern river dolphins and the biggest known freshwater dolphin.But the skull, which measured about 27 inches (70 centimeters) long, was incomplete, so the ancient dolphin may have been even larger than that, the scientists reported March 20 in the journal Science Advances, published by the American Association for the Advancement of Science.What makes the find even more exceptional the insight it offers into t …nnDiscussion:nn” ai_name=”RocketNews AI: ” start_sentence=”Can I tell you more about this article?” text_input_placeholder=”Type ‘Yes'”]
