DETROIT – The remains of whales have been found in Michigan.
It’s not a hoax. It’s not a joke. And I’m not talking about the Basilosaurus that lived here 37 million years ago.
Much more recently. Not the ancient ancestors of whales, but species that are still around in the oceans today. They just happened to live here just a few thousand years ago.
Whale remains scattered across Michigan
The skeletal remains of a baleen whale were found in Ortonville. Sperm whale remains have turned up in both Lenawee County and Wexford County. A bowhead whale was discovered in 1927 while workers were digging a foundation for a schoolhouse in Oscoda. Finback whale remains have been found in Genesee County.
“Many whale bones and teeth continue to turn up in Michigan,” wrote Dr. J. Alan Holman, former professor of geological sciences and zoology and emeritus curator of vertebrate paleontology at Michigan State University. “Sperm whale teeth have been found by people walking Michigan beaches.”
OK, so how, why
To understand how whales ended up in the Great Lakes State, it helps to understand Michigan’s history. It involves a lot of water, full disclosure.
Let’s jump in.
Michigan spent millions of years either submerged underwater or buried under ice. That’s why the state has no dinosaur fossils, and it’s also why Petoskey stones are found along its shorelines.
Marine fossils are so common in Michigan that our state rock is a fossil. We’re the only state whose official state rock is a fossil, by the way.
The last glacial period ended roughly 12,000 years ago. As the glaciers began to melt, an unfathomable volume of water moved southward.
Just, like, so much water
With the Rocky Mountains to the west and the Appalachian Mountains to the east, south was basically the only direction the water could go.
Just to reiterate what an incomprehensible amount of water this was: Michigan was once buried under a mile of ice.
There was so much water that the Mississippi River was five miles wide at some points.
This allowed marine animals like whales to travel far inland. Whales are mammals and warm-blooded, so this massive cold freshwater highway to Michigan was viable for them in a way that it wasn’t for sharks.
Related: The great white sharks-in-the-Great-Lakes post is wrong. Here’s why it’s not even close
The precursors to the Great Lakes had abundant marine life that you wouldn’t expect. The remains of a walrus were once found on Mackinac Island.
Why we’re no longer underwater
Eventually, as the ice retreated far enough north, the water found a new path -- flowing east rather than south. Nearly every Great Lake’s water was redirected in that new direction.
This is also why whale remains have been found in the once 6th Great Lake, Lake Champlain.
It’s a shame. Whale watching on Lake Michigan or Huron sounds awesome.
But what if they were planted?
Not everyone has been convinced that the whale bones are genuine and that it’s an elaborate hoax. The idea is that hundreds of years ago, people just took whale bones from coastal areas and just took them to Michigan like a bored teen stealing a traffic cone.
Dr. Claude W. Hibbard, a former University of Michigan geology professor and widely renowned paleontologist, had a pretty sharp response to that theory.
“If such is the case, the Indians, or the settlers, possessed a good knowledge of the prehistoric Wisconsin lake beaches in which to bury their discarded whale bones.”
Sick archeological burn, Hibbie.
In other words, the bones were found in exactly the geological layers where you’d expect them to be. They were not randomly buried but were found in places that are consistent with the glacial timeline and geographical history of Michigan.
The whales of Michigan were real. Can we uncover the mural now?
Timeline of events
- 1,000,000–10,000 years ago: Multiple major glaciations occur; Michigan is completely covered by glacier ice during each of the 4 major advances.
- 1,000,000–250,000 years ago: First three ice sheets extend as far south as the Ohio River; Michigan remains ice-covered.
- 90,000–10,000 years ago: Last major glaciation; again, Michigan fully ice-covered for long periods.
- 10,000 years ago): Southward movement dated to ~10,000 years ago; then ice begins retreating north, enabling reinhabitation of southern Michigan by plants/animals.
- As ice retreats (post-10,000 years ago): Meltwater ponds south of the ice; these ponded waters become the beginnings of the Great Lakes; later, new north/east outlets open (Niagara route, North Bay route).
- Post-glacial Michigan (after retreat): Buried stagnant ice blocks melt, creating depressions -- many Michigan lakes form.
- 4,000-7,000 years ago: Retreating ice allows water to flow east, rather than south, drying out significant parts of the Midwest and forming the Great Lakes as we know them.
Related: One of the world’s deadliest animals once swam freely in the Detroit River. A dog stopped him