New Age | Scientists unearth ‘cute’ but fearsome ancient whale

In this photo taken on August 5 and released by Museums Victoria on Wednesday shows the partial fossil skull of a Janjucetus dullardi at Museums Victoria in Melbourne. Australian scientists have discovered a razor-toothed whale that prowled the seas 26 million years ago, saying the species was ‘deceptively cute’ but a fearsome predator. | AFP photo

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.

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