Search the Community

Hello All, This is my first time posting here, so I hope I'm doing this right. I did my best to crop the pictures I have and hope I've included what's needed. During our annual Thanksgiving trip, a friend of mine found what appears to be a large whale vertebrae on 11/26/22 in the Monterey Bay Area, between Seacliff Beach and New Brighton Beach in Aptos. Based on the known sea mammals that pass through these parts and a quick Google search, it looks to be a Humpback vertebrate, but there’s also the Blue Whale, Gray Whale, Fin Whale and Killer Whale. My guess is a Humpback, but that's just a hunch. It was found about 8-10” under the sand, just after high tide. At first, he thought it might be a tree stump or part of an anchor. It was pretty far up the beach, closer to the walkway than the beach water. The surrounding sand was damp and the bone still needs to dry since it’s been under water/wet sand for who knows how long(?). There is a gift shop nearby and they have fossilized bones, including one that’s a humpback vertebrae and it’s a lot smaller than the one found. It did say in the visitors center that these fossils have been found in the area that date back 2-5 million years. It seems improbable in my mind that this found one is anywhere near that old, but I’m a complete newbie to this. Thankfully, this forum looks like the ideal place to ask these questions. Is there a way to tell either how old or large the whale was, based off this information? Also, is there a particular method used to dry these out and get it back to its natural ivory color? I read that leaving it in the sun will bleach it, but I’m assuming that takes a while to do. Here are the measurements and pictures. If more specific pictures need to be added, let me know and I'll have them snap what's needed. Widest point: ~21” (side to side) Diameter of center: ~13.5-14” (one side is a little wider than the other) Depth: ~9.5-10” Thank you all in advance, Jason