Millions of years ago, this desert in Peru was a gathering place for fantastical sea creatures: whales that walked, dolphins with walrus faces, sharks with teeth as large as a human face, red-feathered penguins, aquatic sloths. They reproduced in the gentle waters of a shallow lagoon buffered by hills that still wrap across the landscape today. Eventually, tectonic shifts lifted the land from the sea. Discoveries from the region have come at a brisk pace in recent decades, with at least 55 new species of marine vertebrates found so far. In August, paleontologists unveiled what may be the region’s most remarkable find yet: Perucetus colossus, a manatee-like whale now considered the heaviest animal known to have existed.

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Locations: Peru, Pisco