SANTIAGO, Chile – Scientists investigating a graveyard of marine mammal fossils near Chile’s northern coast say toxins generated by algae blooms most likely poisoned the animals millions of years ago.
The study by a team of Chilean and Smithsonian Institution scientists was published Wednesday in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B.
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The experts travelled to Chile’s Atacama region in 2011 to unearth one of the world’s best-preserved graveyards of prehistoric whales.
Other unusual creatures found at the “Whale Hill” site include an extinct aquatic sloth and a walrus-like toothed whale.
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Scientists say the “orientation and condition” of the skeletons shows that the animals “died at sea, prior to burial on a tidal flat.”
The remains were first found by highway construction workers in 2010.
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