'Mysterious' Giant Sea Creature Remains Wash Up On California Beach

Two California natives were walking their dogs along the Fort Funston shoreline in San Francisco last weekend when they came across a peculiar object sitting in the sand. According to SFGate, photographer Elke Teichmann and her roommate spotted giant bones belonging to a mysterious sea creature. The bones were something that neither of them had ever seen before.

“My roommate and I were walking our dogs on the beach, observing all the driftwood that had washed up from the storm, when I saw something that caught my eye. From my vantage point, it looked like some large white item peeking through all of the scattered branches.”

Teichmann and her roommate walked closer to the object to get a better look and to take some photos. They initially assumed that the skull belonged to a whale, and SFGate mentioned that they were not far off with their guess. UC Berkeley Museum of Paleontology research associate Robert Boessenecker examined the object and soon determined it to be a "brain-case of a modern gray whale." Boessenecker explained that these creatures have existed along the West Coast for nearly 2 million years, and that the narrowness of their skulls make them easy to identify.