The whale of Orciano Pisano

Orciano Pisano - Perhaps not everyone is aware of the fact that a large part of Tuscany was once under the sea, before the Apennines rose. For this reason, in the countryside of the hinterland it is possible to find fossils, such as shells, but also larger finds, such as whale bones. The most striking discovery occurred in November 2006, when a boy was looking for shells in a wheat field.

Instead he found two large vertebrae that belonged to a whale. The man who owned the field, an elderly farmer, did not want to believe it. Excavation began and it was found that the skeleton was almost intact and extended for about 10 meters in length. The remains of those marine animals that had eaten the carcass, such as white and blue sharks, were also collected around the whale. Today the skeleton of the whale is exhibited at the Museum of Geology and Paleontology of the University of Florence. It attracts many visitors and onlookers, as it is a previously unknown species, still being examined by scholars.