Cute, and Deadly 

Some ancient whales were far from the gentle giants we know today. 

Scientists have identified a razor-toothed cetacean that terrorized the warm seas of what is now Victoria, Australia, around 26 million years ago. 

Named Janjucetus dullardi, the prehistoric mammal packed slicing teeth, a short snout, and forward-facing eyes that would have made it a fearsome predator. 

Although it was smaller than its modern cousins – about the size of the dolphin – it was not docile, according to Ruairidh Duncan, lead author of a new study. 

“Imagine the shark-like version of a baleen whale – small and deceptively cute, but definitely not harmless,” he said in a statement. 

Duncan and his colleagues explained that J. dullardi belonged to a prehistoric group of whales known as mammalodontids, which were distant, smaller relatives of today’s filter-feeding whales. 

Their discovery came nearly six years after local resident Ross Dullard discovered the creature’s well-preserved partial skull along Victoria’s Surf Coast. Dullard donated the fossil to Museums Victoria, which later named the new species in his honor. 

The findings mark the fourth mammalodontid species ever discovered worldwide. Three were found in Victoria state. 

It also prompted senior study author Eric Fitzgerald to quip that J. dullardi was uniquely Australian. 

“If they were alive today, they would be as iconically Australian as a kangaroo,” he told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.  

Meanwhile, the research team noted that Surf Coast lies on the Jan Juc formation, a geological site dating to the Oligocene epoch between 23 and 30 million years ago, CBS News noted. 

Because there have been a series of rare fossils discovered in the area, the research team believes further studies can shed some light on 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,” Fitzgerald said in the statement. “We’re entering a new phase of discovery.”