Millions of years before today’s whales became the gentle giants we know, some of their ancient relatives were small, strange, and fierce. A lucky find of a 25-million-year-old fossil on an Australian beach has led scientists to identify a rare, entirely new species that could shed light on whale evolution.
This week, researchers officially named the species Janjucetus dullardi in the Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. The creature, which had cartoon-like bulging eyes the size of tennis balls, was small enough as a juvenile to fit in a single bed. But despite its size, it was a deadly hunter, with sharp teeth and a snout like a shark’s.
Experts Say the Creature Resembles Whale+Seal+Pokemon
“It was cute, but in a misleading way,” said Erich Fitzgerald, senior curator of vertebrate paleontology at Museums Victoria Research Institute and co-author of the study. “It may have looked like a mix of a whale, a seal, and a Pokémon, but it was a completely unique creature.”
The fossil was found in 2019 and included parts of the skull, teeth, and ear bones, at Jan Juc Beach in Victoria, Australia. It is a site famous for unearthing some of the most unusual whale fossils ever discovered. According to experts, Janjucetus dullardi is only the fourth identified species in the mammalodontid family, an ancient group of whales that lived during the Oligocene Epoch, roughly 34–23 million years ago.
Ancestors of Modern Day Whales
These predators had the capacity to reach around 3 meters (10 feet) in length and belonged to an early branch of the whale family tree that would eventually lead to today’s giant baleen whales, such as humpbacks and blues. However, unlike their modern relatives, they had powerful jaws filled with sharp teeth, and could have even sported small, stump-like legs on their bodies.
Without more complete fossils, some mysteries will remain. Even finding this partial skull was considered a remarkable stroke of luck.
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