Dinosaur breakthrough as 25-million-year-old fossil found that's a brand new species

By Emily Wright, World News Reporter

A prehistoric whale fossil which lived some 25 million years ago has been confirmed as a new species (Image: Ruairidh Duncan)

A major marine research breakthrough has been made in south-eastern Australia as a new species of dinosaur has been discovered. The specimen, a prehistoric whale fossil, represents an early ancestor of modern baleen whales, which include species like the humpback and blue whale - the largest animal on Earth, researchers have said.

“This is a whale that was unknown to science,” said Erich Fitzgerald, senior curator of vertebrate palaeontology at the Museums Victoria Research Institute. The discovery was first made in 2019 near Jan Juc on Victoria’s Surf Coast and has been named Janjucetus dullardi. The early whale species is thought to have lived approximately 25 million years ago during the Oligocene Epoch and belonged to an extinct genus named Mammalodontids. 

Janjucetus dullardi has large eyes, sharp teeth and measued seven feet - about the size of a Common Dolphin (Image: Museums Victoria/Youtube)

“What is really significant about this new species of fossil whale is that it actually is an ancient ancestor of today’s baleen whales, and that includes gentle giants like the humpback whale and the blue whale," Mr Fitzgerald added.

Unlike modern baleen whales, which filter-feed using baleen plates, these early relatives had hard plates attached to their jaws.

The new species boasts some impressive features unlike its relatives, including large eyes, sharp teeth and measured some seven feet in length - about the size of the Pygmy Right Whale (Caperea marginata) or Common Dolphin (Delphinus delphis) - small for a whale but built for speed and hunting.

“It’s essentially a little whale with big eyes and a mouth full of sharp, slicing teeth … small and deceptively cute, but definitely not harmless,” said Ruairidh Duncan, a PhD student at Monash University.

Janjucetus dullardi is uniquely Australian, like a kangeroo (Image: Museums Victoria/Youtube)

The find is only the third mammalodontid species identified in Victoria, following discoveries in 2006 and 1939, and the fourth known worldwide.

It is also the first ancient whale fossil found with both its teeth and internal structures preserved in such detail.

Mr Fitzgerald has said that the fossil could help researchers understand how these early whales adapted to warm ancient oceans, knowledge that could be vital in launching responses to climate change to save modern marine ecosystems.

Researchers now aim to identify when and where mammalodontids first appeared and what led to their extinction. Mr Fitzgerald described Janjucetus dullardi as uniquely Australian: “If they were alive today, they would be as iconically Australian as a kangaroo,” he said.