3" Basilosaur (Primitive Whale) Tooth

This is a 3" long tooth from a Basilosaurid, a type of Archaeocete (primitive whale). These rare teeth come from the Late Eocene aged deposits in the Western Sahara near Dakhla, Morocco and are associated with teeth of the shark Auriculatus, a Megalodon ancestor. My best research indicates the most likely species is the Basilosaur, Zygorhiza kochii, but I'm leaving a question mark on that because it's not definitive.

Nearly all of the Archaeocete teeth found at this location are broken and are heavily restored, composited, repaired. We removed the restoration from the ones we purchased and re-restored some areas where appropriate. The only restoration on this tooth is a gap fill in the crown where it was damaged.

Basilosaurids could reach gigantic sizes with some species reaching nearly 60 feet in length. It is believed that they fed exclusively on fish and sharks, and had a mouth full of teeth optimized for catching and chewing this prey. The front teeth in the jaw were pointed for catching and holding fish while they had very uniquely shaped, double rooted molars for chewing.