Fossil

Fossil (HM1D7X)

Location: Mission Viejo, CA 92691 Orange County
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Country: United States of America
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N 33° 36.075', W 117° 40.327'

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Inscription

Whale Exhibit

The main exhibit displays a fossil right whale skull in profile. It was recovered from the marine siltstone member of the Capistrano Formation (3.5 to 5 million years old) in the 1970's right here in Mission Viejo. It is a fossil skull from the family Balaenidea (Bowhead Whales and Right Whales).

The vertebral column on exhibit behind the whale skull although not associated with the skull, was also discovered in the city of Mission Viejo.

This fossil, which unearthed by the Mission Viejo Company durning grading operations in the souther part of Mission Viejo in 1976, is a partial skull of a Baleen Whale. A Baleen Whale is a member of the Bowhead Whale Family.

When alive, this particular whale would have been 58 feet long and weighed about 50 tons or the wight of 575 men. This skull would have measured nine feet across and about 14.5 feet long.

The fossil is owned by the Los Angeles County Natural History Museum and is on permanent loan to the City of Mission Viejo.
It is the only fossil skull of this to be on scientific display in California.
Details
HM NumberHM1D7X
Tags
Placed ByCity of Mission Viejo Heritage
Marker ConditionNo reports yet
Date Added Saturday, September 27th, 2014 at 4:37am PDT -07:00
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Locationbig map
UTM (WGS84 Datum)11S E 437642 N 3718147
Decimal Degrees33.60125000, -117.67211667
Degrees and Decimal MinutesN 33° 36.075', W 117° 40.327'
Degrees, Minutes and Seconds33° 36' 4.50" N, 117° 40' 19.62" W
Driving DirectionsGoogle Maps
Area Code(s)949, 714
Closest Postal AddressAt or near 24902 Chrisanta Dr, Mission Viejo CA 92691, US
Alternative Maps Google Maps, MapQuest, Bing Maps, Yahoo Maps, MSR Maps, OpenCycleMap, MyTopo Maps, OpenStreetMap

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