Scientists unearth 'cute' but fearsome ancient whale

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Sydney — Australian scientists have discovered a razor-toothed whale that prowled the seas 26 million years ago, saying Wednesday the species was “deceptively cute” but a fearsome predator.

Museums Victoria pieced together the species from an unusually well-preserved skull fossil found on Victoria’s Surf Coast in 2019.

Scientists discovered a “fast, sharp-toothed predator” that would have been about the size of a dolphin.

“It’s essentially a little whale with big eyes and a mouth full of sharp, slicing teeth,” said researcher Ruairidh Duncan.

“Imagine the shark-like version of a baleen whale — small and deceptively cute, but definitely not harmless.”

The skull belonged to a group of prehistoric whales known as the mammalodontids, distant smaller relatives of today’s filter-feeding whales.

It is the fourth mammalodontid species ever discovered, Museums Victoria said.

“This fossil opens a window into how ancient whales grew and changed, and how evolution shaped their bodies as they adapted to life in the sea,” said palaeontologist Erich Fitzgerald, who co-authored the study.

Victoria’s Surf Coast lies on the Jan Juc Formation — a geological feature dating to the Oligocene epoch between 23 and 30 million years ago.

A string of rare fossils have been unearthed along the scenic stretch of beach, a renowned site for the study of early whale evolution.

“This region was once a cradle for some of the most unusual whales in history, and we’re only just beginning to uncover their stories,” said Fitzgerald.

“We’re entering a new phase of discovery.

“This region is rewriting the story of how whales came to rule the oceans, with some surprising plot twists.”

The species was named Janjucetus dullardi, a nod to local Ross Dullard who stumbled across the skull while strolling the beach in 2019.

It was described in the peer-reviewed Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society.