Whale - Fossil fragment - Basilosaurus - 15 cm - 7 cm

→ 15 cm long x 7 cm wide at widest point & 147 gram Basilosaurus jaw end fragment with molar

Basilosaurus were ancient whales with a long list of unique facts about it.
One of those fascinating fact being their teeth. Their teeth can be divided into front canines and back molars with unique shapes and curves. The molars were used to cutting and shearing of the prey while the canines were used to hold onto the prey.

The presented fossil is the section of back jaw of Basilosaurus with the last molar. The last molar itself has a special shape with a slight bend & half of it featuring the triangular ridges while the other half without it which is different than other molars which have triangular ridges along both sides (i.e., those molars are symmetrical ridged molars). The molar shows very interesting white streaks which is due to plant material interaction during the fossilization process.

The presented fossil features diverse mix of fossilization, mineralization and crystallization indicating how a biological fragment is converted to geological item over the span of million of years.

There is interesting scratch mark on the fossil which is shown in some of pictures. May be it happened during animal lifetime e.g. a bite mark.. or may be its just due to fossilization process. Nevertheless its very interesting.

The shape of overall fossil presents a ocean going ship reminding of Basilosaurus which once thrived in the shallow parts of the oceans during late Eocene epoch, roughly 41 to 34 million years ago.

The molar and the section of jaw are in excellent shape and has been professionally conserved to make it long lasting.

Its possible that the fossil belong to another member of Basilosauridae family like Durodon or Zygorhiza.

The fossil have been professionally conserved to make it long lasting.

Please refer to photos for details about the shape, color, relative size and other features of this wonderful fossil.