How the Andes Mountains Might Have Killed a Bunch of Whales

At a site known as Cerro Ballena or Whale Hill, there are more than 40 skeletons of marine mammals -- a graveyard of ocean life dating back 6.5 million to 9 million years ago, in the Late Miocene Epoch. But the identity of the killer that they finally settled on might surprise you.

Special thanks to the Smithsonian Institute ( and Pyenson ND et al. 2014 ( for making their photos and graphics about Cerro Ballena available to us.

And thank you to these paleoartists for allowing us to use their wonderful illustrations:
Ceri Thomas:
Fabrizio de Rossi:

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