Scientists found a 16 million-year-old giant freshwater dolphin types in the Amazon, uncovering its unexpected link to South Asian river dolphins and offering insights into the evolutionary characteristics of these creatures. Remarkably, its closest living relatives can be discovered in the river dolphins of South Asia.River dolphins are amongst the rarest contemporary cetaceans, with most extant species critically endangered. The new types, named Pebanista yacuruna after a legendary aquatic people thought to populate the Amazon basin, was discovered in Peruvian Amazonia and is dated to be 16 million years old.Changing landscape drove giant dolphin to extinctionThe new dolphin species belongs to the Platanistoidea, a group of dolphins that were typical in the worlds oceans between 24 and 16 million years earlier. “With this fossil record uncovered in the Amazon, we expected to find close family members of the living Amazon River dolphin– however instead the closest cousins of Pebanista are the South Asian river dolphins (genus Platanista).
Scientists discovered a 16 million-year-old giant freshwater dolphin types in the Amazon, uncovering its unanticipated link to South Asian river dolphins and supplying insights into the evolutionary dynamics of these creatures. The brand-new types, named Pebanista yacuruna after a mythical water people thought to live in the Amazon basin, was found in Peruvian Amazonia and is dated to be 16 million years old.Changing landscape drove huge dolphin to extinctionThe brand-new dolphin species belongs to the Platanistoidea, a group of dolphins that were common in the worlds oceans between 24 and 16 million years back. “With this fossil record discovered in the Amazon, we anticipated to discover close relatives of the living Amazon River dolphin– but rather the closest cousins of Pebanista are the South Asian river dolphins (genus Platanista).