Massive 5‑Million‑Year‑Old Whale Graveyard Discovered in Indian Ocean
Scientists have unearthed a staggering 1,200‑kilometre long necropolis of whale bones in the southeastern Indian Ocean, making one of the most extensive discoveries of ancient marine life ever recorded. The hole‑deep site, 7 km under the sea, sits in the Diamantina fracture zone—a network of ridges and trenches on the ocean floor.
The expedition, carried out by teams from China, Italy and New Zealand, gathered samples from 485 whale‑fossil sites across 32 dives. Among the remains were 5.3‑million‑year‑old fossils of the beaked whale Pterocetus benguelae and a five‑metre long Antarctic minke whale skeleton, the biggest specimen recovered.
A new species of fossil whale has been identified, named Pterocetus diamantinae after the find’s location. The site is also a thriving ecosystem: jellyfish, worms and crustaceans colonise the spread of carcasses, forming a unique deep‑sea community that may contain species unknown to science.
“Discovering a necropolis of this scale was completely unexpected,” said lead author Xiaotong Peng of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. “The size, distribution, depth and age range were far beyond anything we had imagined.”
The study was published in Nature, with the paper’s collective insights praised by experts such as Stephen J. Godfrey of the Calvert Marine Museum: “The site is likely to hold many other exciting finds and will inspire further submersible dives in similar environments.”
The discovery not only deepens our understanding of ancient whale populations but also highlights the hidden biodiversity that lives around underwater carcasses, offering fresh opportunities for marine science research.
