Twenty-five years ago, a veterinarian from Chile, who ran a family estancia, or ranch, there, was coming through New York on his way to Europe. His uncle, mayor of a small town and a naturalist, had found what he thought were whale bones 6,000 feet up in the Andes.

Near the whale bones, we also found other marine fossils—shells, sharks’ teeth and so on. By determining the geological age of those and dating the volcanic rocks above and below them, we found that the site was at least 18 to 20 million years old! That helped us advance the understanding of how old the Andes Mountains were in Patagonia, and how fast they rose from the sea to carry their entombed fossil whale passengers to such great heights.

I just did a double-take.

Whale bones 6000 feet above sea level?!

And then I read this: "The show covers three key themes: whale evolution, whale biology and diversity, and human interaction with whales—from being a resource to the spiritual connections."

Spiritual connections???

You, of all people, should understand this.  :-)

I do like whales. Is it a Douglas-Adams thing?

Oh no, not again!

http://pandawhale.com/post/10541/oh-no-not-again