A whale graveyard was discovered in the Indian Ocean

Of India a whale graveyard containing hundreds of fossils was found in the ocean.

About 5.3 million years old, the area is one of the largest and deepest yet discovered.

Dead and dying whales have drifted thousands of meters below sea level to a grave. Whale bones have been found along a journey of about 1,200 kilometers, researchers say on Wednesday In the journal Nature.

Along with the oldest found remains, newer bones were also found in the grave. Based on the age of the fossils, remains of whales have been in the area for at least five million years.

They talk about it, among other things yhdys­valtalais­media CNN and British newspaper The Guardian.

Major some of the remains found have belonged to beaked whales.

Several species of beaked whales are known to live in the southeastern parts of the Indian Ocean.

Their fossils have also been found nearby in the past. Therefore, it is not surprising that their bones have accumulated in the area for millions of years, CNN says.

Paleontologit discovered a cetacean cemeteries in the Diamantina zone, which is located in the southwest of Australia. It was formed tens of millions of years ago, when the continents of Australia and the Southern Continent separated from each other.

The now discovered cetacean grave extends to a depth of up to 7,000 meters.

The reason for the formation of the huge cemetery may be the V-shaped, funnel-like topography of the Diamantina zone.

This is how the second leader of the study, professor, assesses Xikun Song from the Institute of Deep Sea Science and Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences.

Beaked whales typically dive deep, but may reach their limit at a depth of 3,000 meters. It increases the whale’s risk of fatigue, Song says according to CNN.

The carcasses of dead and dying whales then funnel to the seabed.

To the cemetery getting there was very difficult due to the depth, said the study’s second author, a researcher Peng Zhou According to CNN.

The research group was especially surprised by the number of fossils in the cemetery.

“According to our estimate, there are more than 10 million whale remains lying in the grave.”