‘Deceptively cute’ ancient whale with razor-sharp teeth and eyes the size of tennis balls discovered in Australia | Whales

“Small and misleadingly cute, but certainly not harmless” is the way in which scientists have described a new kind of old whale, from a 25 million year fossil found on the Victoria surf coast.

This first species, called Janjucetus DULARDIwas an extremely unusual animal, said Dr. Erich Fitzgerald, principal curator of vertebrates paleontology at the Victoria Research Institute museum.

It was tiny – the size of a dolphin – and had teeth tarpped in razor, which looks little like his living parents closest to the Baleen whales, including blue whales, some of the biggest animals to live.

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The highly built skull of the whale was “almost over-designed,” said Fitzgerald. He had relatively large eyes – approaching the size of the tennis bullets – and a short muzzle with teeth deeply rooted for grasping and tearing.

“It was a really knotty whale with which I would personally want to enter the water,” said Fitzgerald.

“It is essentially a little whale with large eyes and a mouth full of sharp and sharp teeth,” said co-author Ruaidh Duncan, researcher at the Victoria Museum Research Institute and Monash University. “Imagine the shark -shaped version of a Baleen whale – small and deceptively cute, but certainly not harmless.”

Duncan and Fitzgerald described the new species of the Linnean Society of Society from an “extremely rare” fossil discovery which included a partial skull, a ear and eight teeth – key characteristics that allowed scientists to identify it as a new species.

When it is completely cultivated, the species probably measured about 3 meters long. But the fossil was most likely a juvenile, based on its large open root channels, barely worn with teeth and bone connections which were not as closely merged as in a mature specimen. “This person probably did not exceed about two to 2.2 million long,” said Fitzgerald. “You can integrate it into a beach towel.”

Janjucetus DULARDI lived during the oligocene (30 to 23 million years ago) – halfway from the extinction of dinosaurs – a period of click heat and on the rise. It was the fourth, known to a group known as mammalodontides, unusual animals which were “early branching” of the family shaft of the whales, said Fitzgerald.

He said proof of fossil of the tiny plankton of the formation of Jan JUC – the same kind of rock – The sea temperatures suggested in southern Australia would have been warmer then, more related to subtropical waters off the port of boxes.

“In these seas, there was this extraordinary abundance of life, including all these small whales, giant penguins, sharks – about a third, or even twice as long as the large white shark today – and various other primitive dolphins and other whales. It was a very different world,” said Fitzgerald.

It was a turning point in the history of life in the oceans and the beginning of an explosion in the diversification of whales and dolphins.

The paleontologist at the University of Flinders, Professor John Long, who was not involved in the newspaper, said that the fossil was a remarkable discovery that could help discover the evolutionary steps while early carnivorous whales passed to become filtering eaters.

“To understand the radiation and the evolution of large ball whales that live today, we must look at the fossil file to see the steps in the way they have acquired their special characters,” he said.

He also underlined the value of work in the field, by professional scientists and public members, said a lot.

The discovery would not have been possible without the local resident and director of the Ross Dulard school, who found the specimen in 2019 while walking along the beach near Jan Juc on the Victoria surf coast.

Recognizing the importance of the fossil, Dullard donated the fossil to the museum for a more in -depth study. In recognition of its contribution, the new species has been appointed in its honor.

This highlighted the essential role that public members continued to play in Australian paleontology, said Fitzgerald. “It is a reminder that the fossils that change in the world are in your own backyard.”

“Victoria has a rich fossil heritage,” said Long. “I grew up in Melbourne and I collected fossils when I was a child since I was seven years old. You can find fossils of almost all the geological periods of Victoria… if you know where to look for. ”