\u201cSmall and deceptively cute, but definitely not harmless\u201d is how scientists have described a new species of ancient whale, from a 25-million-year-old fossil found on Victoria\u2019s surf coast.<\/p>\n
This early species, called Janjucetus dullardi, was an extremely unusual animal, said Dr Erich Fitzgerald, senior curator of vertebrate palaeontology at Museums Victoria Research Institute.<\/p>\n
It was tiny \u2013 about the size of a dolphin \u2013 and had razor-sharp teeth, bearing little resemblance to its closest living relatives in the baleen whale family, including blue whales, some of the largest animals to ever live.<\/p>\n
Sign up: AU Breaking News email<\/a><\/p>\n The whale\u2019s heavily built skull was \u201calmost over-engineered\u201d, Fitzgerald said. It had relatively large eyes \u2013 approaching the size of tennis balls \u2013 and a short snout with deeply rooted teeth for gripping and tearing.<\/p>\n \u201cThis was a really gnarly whale that I personally wouldn\u2019t want to get in the water with,\u201d Fitzgerald said.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s essentially a little whale with big eyes and a mouth full of sharp, slicing teeth,\u201d said co-author Ruairidh Duncan, a researcher at the Museums Victoria Research Institute and Monash University. \u201cImagine the shark-like version of a baleen whale \u2013 small and deceptively cute, but definitely not harmless.\u201d<\/p>\n Duncan and Fitzgerald described the new species in the Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society<\/a> from an \u201cexceedingly rare\u201d fossil find that included a partial skull, ear bone and eight teeth \u2013 key features that enabled the scientists to identify it as a new species.<\/p>\n When fully grown, the species was probably about 3m long. But the fossil was most likely a juvenile, based on its wide open root canals, barely worn teeth and bone connections that were not as tightly fused as in a mature specimen. \u201cThis individual was probably no more than about two to 2.2m long,\u201d Fitzgerald said. \u201cYou could fit it on to a beach towel.\u201d<\/p>\n Janjucetus dullardi lived during the Oligocene (30-23 million years ago) \u2013 about halfway back to the extinction of the dinosaurs \u2013 a time of global warmth and rising seas. It was the fourth known species from a group known as mammalodontids, unusual animals that were an \u201cearly offshoot\u201d of the baleen whale family tree, Fitzgerald said.<\/p>\n Dr Erich Fitzgerald with the teeth and partial fossil skull of Janjucetus dullardi. Photograph: Tom Breakwell\/Museums Victoria<\/p>\n He said evidence from fossils of tiny plankton from the Jan Juc Formation \u2013 the same kind of rock \u2013 suggested sea temperatures in southern Australia would have been warmer then, more akin to subtropical waters off Coffs Harbour.<\/p>\n \u201cIn these seas, there was this extraordinary abundance of life, including all these little whales, giant penguins, sharks \u2013 about a third, or even twice as long as today\u2019s great white shark \u2013 and various other primitive dolphins and other species of whales. It was a very different world,\u201d Fitzgerald said.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n Flinders University palaeontologist Prof John Long, who was not involved in the paper, said the fossil was a remarkable find that could help uncover the evolutionary steps as early carnivorous whales transitioned to become filter feeders.<\/p>\n skip past newsletter promotion<\/a><\/p>\n Sign up to Breaking News Australia<\/p>\n Get the most important news as it breaks<\/p>\n Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain info about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. For more information see our Privacy Policy<\/a>. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy<\/a> and Terms of Service<\/a> apply.<\/p>\n after newsletter promotion<\/p>\n \u201cTo understand the radiation and evolution of the big baleen whales that live today, we need to look at the fossil record to see the stages of how they acquired their special characters,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n It also highlighted the value of fieldwork, by professional scientists and members of the public, Long said.<\/p>\n The discovery wouldn\u2019t have been possible without local resident and school principal Ross Dullard, who found the specimen in 2019 while walking along the beach near Jan Juc on Victoria\u2019s surf coast.<\/p>\n Recognising the fossil\u2019s significance, Dullard donated the fossil to the museum for further study. In recognition of his contribution, the new species was named in his honour.<\/p>\n