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.
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 ...
That's where Templeton saw a fossilized vertebra from an ancient whale known as Basilosaurus. "I've seen some before, so I knew what it was," Templeton said. If you've been to the Mississippi ...