A comparison between the complete skull of a Glyptodon and the skull fragments of a fetal specimen. (From Zurita et al, 2009)

Early in 2009 a team of paleontologists led by Philip Gingerich announced the discovery of a baby archaeocete (early whale) embedded inside the skeleton of an adult of the same species. Since these fossils represented a new species of fossil whale to boot the story was immediately picked up by news outlets, but less well-publicized was another discovery made later the same year. In the pages of Comptes Rendus Palevol paleontologists Alfredo Zurita, Angel Mino-Boilinia, Esteban Soibelzon, Gustavo Scillato-Yane, German Gasparini, and Freddy Paredes-Ríos described an unborn specimen of a very different