A scientist from Kabardino-Balkarian State University has discovered unique fossils of ancient marine life in Kabardino-Balkaria

During a scientific expedition in the region’s foothills, Aubekir Khatukhov, an associate professor at the Kabardino-Balkarian State University named after Kh.M. Berbekov and a renowned ecologist and faunal researcher, made a number of unique discoveries.

In the Cherek River floodplain, the scientist discovered a tooth belonging to an ancient species of fossil shark, presumably a Cretoxyrhina, which became extinct in the Late Cretaceous period, approximately 100–80 million years ago. It was an apex predator, hunting large prey, including marine reptiles. The scientist reached this conclusion after comparing the find with previously discovered specimens presented in online databases and the book «General Paleontology,» published in Moscow in 1989.

Later, in the floodplain of the Heu River, which flows near the village of Aushiger, an associate professor at the KBSU department found hundreds of fossils of mysterious ammonites, the ancestors of modern squid and octopuses, which became extinct along with the dinosaurs.

Later, while exploring the Baksan River lowland, Aubekir Khatukhov discovered fragments of a rib believed to belong to a toothed whale, Cetotherium, which became extinct in the Neogene period (approximately 16 million years ago). These whales inhabited the Sarmatian Sea, which emerged from the remnants of the Tethys Ocean. The Sarmatian Sea stretched from present-day Vienna to the foothills of the Tien Shan and included today’s Black, Azov, Caspian, and Aral Seas. Elephants, mastodons, giraffes, rhinoceroses, deer, and herds of hipparions roamed its shores.

Paleontologists have noticed tooth marks from large sharks, such as megalodon, on some of the cetotherium bones discovered. This suggests that they were the natural predators of ancient whales.

Aubekir Khatukhov explained his findings:

«It is believed that the Mesozoic Tethys Ocean, separating the ancient continents of Gondwana and Laurasia, stretched over the territory of modern-day Kabardino-Balkaria approximately 200 million years ago. Its warm waters, which washed the future shores of Europe, Africa, and Asia, were home to plesiosaurs and ichthyosaurs—giant marine reptiles whose remains have survived to this day.
However, approximately 65 million years ago, these two continents collided, destroying the ocean. When the plates shifted, volcanoes, earthquakes, and powerful mountain ranges emerged. This is how the Alps, the Caucasus, the Iranian Plateau, and the Himalayas emerged.» «My findings are an important addition to our understanding of the paleontological history of the Caucasus. They indicate that the territory of modern-day Kabardino-Balkaria was once part of a vast ocean and home to a diverse marine fauna.»

The fossils of ancient marine life discovered during the expedition have become part of the exhibition at the Kabardino-Balkarian State University Museum of Living Nature.