Two hikers were left gobsmacked after stumbling across what is believed to be a massive whale skull washed up on the shoreline.
The pair had been walking after coming down from a roadside trail when they spotted what looked like a smooth chunk of driftwood lying on the sand.
But a closer look revealed something far more extraordinary.
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Veronica Taylor said the strange shape immediately caught her eye.
“At first I genuinely thought it was driftwood because it was so smooth,” the 35 year old told Whats The Jam.
“But something about it made me stop and take a closer look.”
Veronica, who builds horse stables for a living, called over her friend Fortune Chavoya, 42, to help investigate.
The caregiver, who works with elderly and sick patients, said they quickly realised it wasn’t wood at all.
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She said: “At that point we just couldn’t believe what we were seeing.
“We didn’t have any signal to check what it was, so we just assumed whale bone because of the size.”
The stunned pair said they had never seen anything like it and were blown away by the sheer scale of the remains.
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With no phone signal, they were unable to confirm exactly what they had found, although both suspected it belonged to a large marine animal.
The mystery deepened days later when they spotted a social media post from a kayaker who had reportedly found what looked like a huge rib bone in the same area.
The hikers now believe the two discoveries could be linked. This has not been confirmed.
The eerie find was made along the central Californian coastline in the US, where tides and erosion can expose massive marine remains.
Experts have yet to officially identify the bones.
Veronica later shared footage of the discovery online, where it racked up more than 474,000 views and thousands of comments.
One person said: “This is the back of a cetacean skull not a pelvis.
“That hole you zoom into is the foramen magnum which is where the neck goes.
“Cetacean pelvis’ are vestigial.”
Another user added: “THAT is the back portion of a whale skull. Dude that’s f*ckin siiiiick!” [sic]
One person said: “Whale whale whale what do we have here.”
Another viewer commented: “L I T E R A L L Y WHAAAAAAAATTT !!!! that is f*cking WILDDDD !!!” [sic]
One person added: “I found one smaller than that on ebay for $2500. Call all local followers to come pick that up for you. You struck it rich.”
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