'Small and cute' terrifying predator roamed Australian waters 26 million years ago

Scientists have discovered an ancient whale species that lived in Australia around 26 million years ago. Fossils of this whale were found along Victoria’s Surf Coast by Ross Dullard, who stumbled upon the fossils in 2019. It was a partial skull fossil with attached ear bone, and it offers an insight into how ancient marine mammals evolved. The creature was very different from the whales seen today, with large eyes and sharp teeth that it used for hunting. The whale species has been named Janjucetus dullardi and is one of the earliest cousins of modern whales. According to Museums Victoria Research Institute, the creature was a far cry from today's whales. They were shorter to help them hunt for prey easily using their sharp tooth. The predator was only about as large as a dolphin and moved quickly. The study was published in the journal Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society.

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Tiny whales with eyes the size of tennis balls

Ruairidh Duncan, lead author of the study, said that they were "little whales with big eyes and a mouth full of sharp, slicing teeth." They were "small and deceptively cute, but not harmless," he added. They had a short snout and eyes about the size of tennis balls facing forward. Their teeth evolved to easily slice their prey. The researchers noted that even though the whales weren't large, they definitely would have presented a scary picture in the ocean at the time. The study notes that these creatures offer an insight into how the baleen whales evolved. The Janjucetus dullardi wasn't the only strange whale in the region at the time. Scientists say that this portion of the world once harboured several unusual whales.

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Museums Victoria had been studying the fossil ever since it was donated by Dullard. “This kind of public discovery and its reporting to the museum is vital...Ross’ discovery has unlocked an entire chapter of whale evolution we’ve never seen before. It’s a reminder that world-changing fossils can be found in your own backyard,” said study co-author Erich Fitzgerald, senior curator at Museums Victoria Research Institute. Years of analysis led researchers to conclude that the fossils belonged to a group of early whales known as mammalodontids. This group inhabited the world's waters around 30 to 23 million years ago.