Photos: New species of extinct marine mammal identified from Unalaska fossils

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An illustration by Alaska artist Ray Troll of Ounalashkastylus tomidai, a member of an extinct order of marine mammals known as Desmosylians, which were identified as a unique species from fossils found in Unalaska.

It had the face of a walrus, swam like a polar bear, was as big as a hippopotamus and sucked its food off the rocks and mud around the Aleutian Islands 23 million years ago. "Ounalashkastylus tomidai" was described by a team of Dallas, Texas paleontologists in an article published in the scientific journal Historical Biology on Oct. 1.

Read more: Giant extinct mammal identified from Unalaska fossils