Australian researchers on Wednesday introduced Janjucetus Dullardi, a two-meter mammalodontid whale that cruised Victoria’s seas 26–23 million years ago. The well-preserved skull was lifted from the Surf Coast near Jan Juc in 2019 after local resident Ross Dullard spotted it during a beach walk; his contribution is honored in the species name.
“We know from the fossils that it had a mouth full of very pointed and sharp teeth,” said Ruairidh Duncan, a PhD candidate in paleontology at Monash University. “Imagine the shark-like version of a baleen whale — small and deceptively cute, but definitely not harmless.” He added that outsized eyes would have helped the animal follow prey in ancient coastal waters.
Erich Fitzgerald, senior curator of vertebrate paleontology at the Museums Victoria Research Institute, called the skull “a whale that was unknown to science,” ABC News Australia reported. “This fossil opens a window into how ancient whales grew and changed, and how evolution shaped their bodies as they adapted to life in the sea,” Fitzgerald said. He noted that the animal sat near the base of the baleen whale family tree, sharing ancestry with modern humpbacks and blue whales.
The specimen revealed no structures for echolocation, indicating the predator relied on sight. Its teeth and auditory bones differed enough from known material to warrant a new species of toothed whale, even though it belonged to the baleen lineage before filter feeding evolved.
The Jan Juc Formation, dated at 23–30 million years, has yielded other mammalodontid fossils, but Janjucetus dullardi became the fourth species named from the group and the first new Australian fossil whale in nearly twenty years. Fitzgerald said further excavation along the coastline could launch “a new phase of discovery,” adding, “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.”
Scientists believe the animal prospered in warm southeastern Australian waters until global cooling lowered sea levels and removed its shallow-water habitat. By refining knowledge of early whales’ behavior in warmer oceans, researchers said the find “may help predict how modern marine ecosystems will adapt to climate change in coming years,”.
The preparation of this article relied on a news-analysis system.