Calvert 'Cliffs Fossil Recovered, Identified

Skull is of an extinct species of dolphin, not of a whale.

Eurhinodelphinid had a long, slender upper snout and a lower jaw-about half that length.

The ancient "whale" skull discovered eroding from the clay at Calvert Cliffs, last spring is actually that of
an extinct species of dolphin. Scientists and volunteers extracted the 16 million-year-old fossil from the cliffs
over the weekend. They revealed what paleontologist Stephen Godfrey of the Calvert Marine Museum
tentatively identified Tuesday as a Eurhinodelphinid, an odd-looking marine mammal with along, slender
upper snout and' a lower jaw about half that length. "It looks a little like a swordfish," he said. "They may have
used this snout to stir around in the mud to scare up creatures, or to slash through schools of fish."

The portion of the skull first exposed was "massive, really robust," the reason scientists initially mistook it
for that of a.small whale. Museum officials credited local amateur collectors Tony Holt, James "Max" Bovi,
and Rick LeDoux with spotting the fossil last spring, alerting the museum and then protecting it from damage
until the museum could secure permission to dig, and make the site safe.

"These three men did everything by the book," said John Nance, the Calvert museum's paleontology
collections manager. "We hope that other-collectors will follow suit as other fossils become exposed.”
Students from Harrisburg University of Science and Technology assisted with the dig. .

By Frank D. Roylance
THE BALTIMORE SUN
frank.roylance@baltsun.rom twitter.rom/froylance