Best Eocene

Philip Gingerich is an American paleontologist and professor at the University of Michigan known for his research on vertebrate evolution, particularly the transition of whales from land to sea mammals. His fieldwork in Pakistan and Egypt led to the discovery and description of several important ear...

Ambulocetus natans is an extinct genus of early cetacean from the middle Eocene epoch, approximately 49 million years ago, with fossils discovered in Pakistan. This archaeocete is a key transitional fossil, exhibiting a mix of terrestrial and aquatic traits that illustrate whale evolution. It posses...

Basilosaurus is an extinct genus of large archaeocete whale that lived during the late Eocene epoch, between 40 and 34 million years ago. It was a dominant marine predator, possessing a long, serpentine body that could reach up to 18 meters in length. The name "Basilosaurus," meaning "king lizard,"...

Wadi el-Hitan, or Whale Valley, is a fossil site in Egypt's Western Desert within Faiyum Governorate and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Its Eocene deposits contain numerous archaeocete whale skeletons, including specimens with reduced hind limbs, alongside fossils of other marine organisms. The site...

Pakicetus is an extinct genus of early archaeocete whale that lived during the early Eocene epoch, approximately 50 million years ago. Fossils were first discovered in Pakistan, which the genus is named after, and it is considered one of the earliest known cetaceans, representing a transitional phas...

The Painted Hills are one of the three units of John Day Fossil Beds National Monument in central Oregon. Their bands of red, gold, black, and gray record changing environmental conditions in ancient floodplain deposits, with the visible colors produced by different minerals and degrees of soil deve...

Puijila darwini was a fossil seal discovered in Canada’s Eocene Arctic sediments. This transitional mammal offers crucial insight into the evolutionary path leading to modern pinnipeds. Its unique skeletal features reveal characteristics of both terrestrial and aquatic animals, making it significant...

Pakicetus attocki is an early Eocene cetacean known from fossils found in Pakistan, near the ancient shoreline of the Tethys Sea. Although it retained four weight-bearing limbs and was primarily adapted for movement on land, features of its skull and ear region identify it as an early whale relative...

Basilosaurus cetoides was a fully aquatic early whale that lived during the late Eocene and is known from fossils in North America, especially the southeastern United States. Richard Harlan described it in 1834 and initially interpreted its long vertebral column as belonging to a marine reptile, whi...

John Day Fossil Beds National Monument is a protected area in eastern Oregon preserving an extensive record of Cenozoic plants, animals, and environmental change spanning roughly 40 million years. The monument comprises the Clarno, Painted Hills, and Sheep Rock units, each with distinct geology and...

Rodhocetus kasranii is an extinct species of protocetid whale that lived during the middle Eocene epoch, approximately 47 million years ago. Its fossilized remains were discovered in Pakistan and first described by paleontologist Philip Gingerich in 1994. The anatomy of Rodhocetus represents a cruci...

Dorudon atrox is an extinct species of basilosaurid archaeocete whale that lived during the late Eocene epoch, approximately 37 million years ago. As a fully aquatic mammal, it possessed a streamlined body, flippers, and a well-developed tail fluke, evolving from earlier semi-aquatic ancestors. Its...

Popigai is a massive impact crater located in Siberia, Russia. Formed during the Eocene epoch approximately 35 million years ago, it’s one of Earth's largest and best-preserved impact structures. Its sheer size—over 10 kilometers across—makes it notable for geological research and studying ancient e...

Maiacetus inuus is an extinct species of protocetid archaeocete whale that lived during the middle Eocene epoch. Fossils of this species were discovered in Pakistan and formally described in 2009 by Philip Gingerich and colleagues. The genus is notable because a fossilized specimen was found preserv...

Fossil Butte National Monument is a 8,198-acre monument in southwestern Wyoming established in 1972, preserving one of the world's most extensive deposits of freshwater Eocene fish fossils from the ancient lake Fossil Lake.

Zygorhiza kochii is an extinct species of early whale belonging to the family Basilosauridae that lived during the late Eocene epoch. Fossil remains have been primarily discovered in the Gulf Coast states of Alabama and Mississippi, dating back roughly 38 million years. As an archaeocete, Zygorhiza...

Philip D. Gingerich is an American paleontologist and professor known for his extensive fieldwork and research on early mammalian evolution. His discoveries primarily focus on early cetaceans and primates uncovered from Eocene deposits in Egypt and Pakistan. Gingerich has played a significant role i...

Coronodon havensteini is an extinct species of early whale that lived during the late Eocene to early Oligocene epochs, approximately 35 million years ago. Discovered in South Carolina, USA, and officially described in 2017, this species belongs to an early group of mysticetes. It is considered a cr...

Llanocetus denticrenatus is an extinct species of toothed baleen whale that lived during the Late Eocene epoch. It ranks among the oldest known mysticetes, with its fossils discovered in the La Meseta Formation on Seymour Island, Antarctica. Unlike modern baleen whales, Llanocetus possessed well-dev...

Diatryma gigantea is an obsolete name historically applied to the giant flightless bird now generally called Gastornis gigantea. It lived in North America during the early Eocene and had a massive skull, deep beak, powerful legs, and a height approaching two meters. Once commonly reconstructed as a...

Andrewsarchus mongoliensis is an extinct Eocene mammal known principally from AMNH 20135, a very large skull discovered in Mongolia in 1923 during an American Museum of Natural History expedition. Because no associated skeleton is known, its body proportions, locomotion, diet, and total size remain...

Gastornis giganteus, a large flightless Eocene bird of North America and Europe, was long interpreted as a predator but isotopic evidence now suggests it was likely a herbivore that used its massive beak to crack hard plant material.

Georgiacetus vogtlensis is an extinct species of early whale belonging to the archaeocete family Protocetidae. Its fossils were discovered in the late Middle Eocene deposits of Georgia, United States, making it one of the most basal cetaceans found in North America. This amphibious marine mammal pos...

Palaeomacropis eocenicus is an extinct species of bee described in 2007, known exclusively from fossil evidence found in the Oise amber deposits of northern France. The species lived during the Early Eocene epoch, approximately 50 million years ago. It belongs to the family Melittidae and is recogni...

Protocetus atavus is a middle Eocene protocetid archaeocete from the Mokattam Formation of Egypt, first described by Eberhard Fraas in 1904. It is among the earliest fossil whales to receive detailed scientific description and has long served as a reference taxon for the family Protocetidae. The gen...

Cynthiacetus peruvianus is an extinct basilosaurid archaeocete from late Eocene deposits of the Pisco Basin in Peru, described in 2011. The species extended confirmed basilosaurid distribution to the South American Pacific coast. Cynthiacetus was a fully aquatic whale with greatly reduced hind limbs...

Eocene bird from North America combining a duck-like body with long wading legs, known from large fossil accumulations suggesting vast colonial nesting aggregations near ancient lakeshores.

Koko Guyot is a large, flat-topped underwater volcano located in the northern Pacific Ocean within the Emperor seamount chain. It is notable for the recovery of 48-million-year-old volcanic rock samples during scientific deep-sea drilling projects. These geological findings have provided researchers...

Mary R. Dawson was an American vertebrate paleontologist who spent much of her career at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh. She specialized in Cenozoic mammals of North America, producing important research on fossil rodents, rabbits, and other small mammals. She was elected to th...