Odobenocetops
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Odobenocetops is an extinct genus of small toothed whale known from Chile and Peru. Its fossils are found in Miocene-aged marine strata of the Bahía Inglesa Formation and Pisco Formation. Two species of Odobenocetops are currently recognized, O. peruvianus and the slightly younger O. leptodon.
Image: Odobenocetops peruvianus
Image: Odobenocetops leptodon 4 maf
Holotype skull of O. peruvianus, exhibited at the National Museum of Natural History, France
The skull of a female O. peruvianus showing the anterior position of the nares
Cerro Ballena
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Cerro Ballena is a fossiliferous locality of the Bahía Inglesa Formation, located in the Atacama Desert along the Pan-American Highway a few kilometers north of the port of Caldera, Chile. It has been dated back to the Late Miocene epoch, during the Neogene period. The locality was first noted in 1965 during military work and fully excavated and studied between 2011 and 2012, and is protected by law since the latter year.
Adult and juvenile balaenopterid whale mass mortality nicknamed "La Familia"
Stratigraphic and sedimentological diagram from Cerro Ballena
Multiple balaenopterid whale specimen occurrences from Cerro Ballena which are thought to have died due to toxic algae
Ichnotaxa from Cerro Ballena, including traces attributed to algae structures and crab feeding