A surprising discovery.

Researchers from the Institute of Paleontology at the University of Zurich, Switzerland, claimed on Tuesday to have identified new species of dolphins previously unknown.

Animals that roamed the oceans twenty million years ago.

At that time, sharks, fish, dolphins and cetaceans thrived in the sea that covered Switzerland, whose shores were colonized by crustaceans, mussels and sea urchins.

Hundreds of fossils dating from this period have been discovered in this country.

After examining some 300 whale and dolphin fossils unearthed in Switzerland and dating from this period, the researchers identified two previously unknown species, the university said.

Combing through fragments of teeth, vertebrae and bones discovered in the layers of marine sediments, paleontologists searched for the rarely found inner ear bones that help classify species.

Aguirre-Fernandez et al.

@UZH_en present first records of extinct kentriodontid and squalodelphinid #dolphins from the Upper Marine Molasse of Switzerland and a reappraisal of the Swiss cetacean fauna



Read the full article https://t.co/DmKiseRd50 pic.twitter.com/VV95e32EYZ

— PeerJ Publishing (@thePeerJ) May 16, 2022


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“We managed to identify two families of unknown dolphins”

“We have successfully identified two previously unknown families of dolphins in Switzerland,” paleontologist Gabriel Aguirre said in the university statement.

Using computer-assisted micro-tomography, a 3D imaging technique, the researchers were able to reconstruct the soft tissue around the ear bones, creating 3D images of the appendages.

“It helped us to better analyze the auditory abilities of dolphins,” explained Gabriel Aguirre.

In their study, published by the scientific site PeerJ, the researchers explain that they have established that the extinct species they have identified are related to sperm whales and dolphins living today.

A large amount of fossils have been discovered in the sedimentary layers known as the upper marine molasses.

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