At sunset one evening last November, Gin­gerich, a vertebrate paleontologist at the University of Michigan, lay full length beside the spinal column of the creature, called Basilosaurus ...

By 40 million years ago, Basilosaurus-- clearly an animal fully adapted to an aquatic environment -- was swimming the ancient seas, propelled by its sturdy flippers and long, flexible body.

from the personal ads of both Black and white Civil War soldiers to the discovery of the Basilosaurus. Clemson University’s Vernon Burton and the New York Public Library’s Harold Holzer ...