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Researchers Detail New Toothed Whale Species From 26-Million-Year-Old Skull

Published in the Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, the study illuminates early whale hunting behaviors from an exceptionally preserved skull.

Photo du 5 août 2025 fournie par les Musées Victoria à Melbourne montrant le fossile du crâne d'une baleine ancienne.
Le chercheur Ruairidh Duncan pose avec le fossile du crâne d'une baleine ancienne le 13 août 2025 aux Musées Victoria de Melbourne.

Overview

  • Unearthed in 2019 on Victoria’s Surf Coast, the exceptionally preserved skull is now formally described in the Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society.
  • Analysis by a team from Museums Victoria identified the specimen as a new species of small predatory whale roughly the size of a dolphin, bearing large eyes, razor-sharp teeth.
  • The fossil represents the fourth known species in a group of toothed ancestors of today’s filter-feeding baleen whales.
  • Researchers highlight the skull’s detailed morphology as a window into ecological shifts in early whale evolution, particularly the transition from active predation to filter-feeding strategies.
  • Paleontologists Erich Fitzgerald and Ruairidh Duncan say the discovery fills a critical gap in the fossil record, enriching knowledge of whale growth and marine adaptation.