‘Weird mash-up of whale, seal and Pokémon': New ‘nightmare Muppet' fossil sheds light on evolution; tiny predator had shark-like jaws, bulging eyes
Janjucetus dullardi
, that could unlock new clues about
whale evolution
.
The 25-million-year-old juvenile specimen, small enough to fit in a single bed, was identified in the Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. It had bulging, tennis-ball-sized eyes, a shark-like snout, and sharp teeth designed for hunting. 'It was, let's say, deceptively cute,' said Erich Fitzgerald, senior curator of vertebrate paleontology at Museums Victoria. 'It might have looked like some weird mash-up between a whale, a seal and a Pokémon, but they were very much their own thing.'
The partial skull, including ear bones and teeth, was found in 2019 along Victoria's Jan Juc Beach, a site known for unusual whale fossils. Janjucetus dullardi is only the fourth species ever identified in the
mammalodontid
group, early whales that lived during the Oligocene Epoch, about 34–23 million years ago. These predators, around three metres long, were an early branch of the lineage that led to modern baleen whales, but looked radically different. 'They may have had tiny little nubbins of legs just projecting as stumps,' Fitzgerald said, a mystery that will remain unless a more complete skeleton is found.
The species name honours Ross Dullard, the amateur fossil hunter who spotted something black protruding from a cliff during a low-tide search. When he poked it, a tooth fell out. 'I thought, geez, we've got something special here,' he said. Museums Victoria confirmed this week it was a new species. Dullard, a school principal, said the news was 'the greatest 24 hours of my life,' describing rock-star treatment at work with 'high fives coming left, right and centre.'
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This is the first mammalodontid found in Australia since 2006 and only the third in the country. Whale fossils of this quality are rare because most skeletons are lost to erosion, scavengers, and currents over millions of years. 'It's only the chosen few… that actually get preserved as fossils,' Fitzgerald noted.
Researchers say Janjucetus dullardi could help reveal how early whales fed, moved, and adapted to ancient warm oceans, insights that could inform how modern marine life responds to climate change. Dullard plans to mark the occasion with a 'fossil party' featuring cetacean-themed games and whale-shaped jello, to celebrate his nightmare Muppet find. 'I've had sleepless nights,' he admitted. 'I've dreamt about this whale.'
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