Scientists identify 'deceptively cute' ancient whale
Researchers last week officially named Janjucetus dullardi, a cartoonish creature with bulging eyes the size of tennis balls, in the Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society.
Unlike today's whales, the juvenile specimen was small enough to fit in a single bed.
Boasting fiendish teeth and a shark-like snout, however, this oddball of the ocean was nasty, mean and built to hunt.
"It was, let's say, deceptively cute," said Erich Fitzgerald, senior curator of vertebrate palaeontology at Museums Victoria Research Institute, and one of the paper's authors.
"It might have looked for all the world like some weird kind of mash-up between a whale, a seal and a Pokemon but they were very much their own thing."
The rare discovery of the partial skull, including ear bones and teeth, was made in 2019 on a fossil-rich stretch of coast along Australia's Victoria state.
Jan Juc Beach, a cradle for some of the weirdest whales in history, is becoming a hotspot for understanding early whale evolution, Fitzgerald said.
Few family trees seem stranger than that of Janjucetus dullardi, only the fourth species ever identified from a group known as mammalodontids, early whales that lived only during the Oligocene Epoch, about 34-to-23 million years ago.
That marked the point about halfway through the known history of whales.
The tiny predators, thought to have grown to three metres in length, were an early branch on the line that led to today's great baleen whales, such as humpbacks, blues and minkes.
But the toothy ancestors with powerful jaws would have looked radically different to any modern species.
"They may have had tiny little nubbins of legs just projecting as stumps from the wall of the body," Fitzgerald said.
That mystery will remain tantalisingly unsolved unless a specimen is uncovered with more of its skeleton intact, which would be something of a miracle.
Even the partial skull that allowed the initial identification this week was an astonishing discovery.
Janjucetus dullardi was named by researchers after an amateur fossil hunter who does not mind its looks in the slightest.
"It's literally been the greatest 24 hours of my life," said Ross Dullard, who discovered the skull while fossil hunting at Jan Juc Beach.
After Wednesday's confirmation of the new species, the school principal walked like a rock star on to campus with "high fives coming left, right and centre", he said.
His friends and family are probably just relieved it is over.
"That's all they've heard from me for about the last six years," he said.
Dullard was on a regular low-tide hunt at Jan Juc the day he spotted something black protruding from a cliff.
He knew enough to recognise it was unlikely to belong to a dog or a seal.
"I thought, geez, we've got something special here," he said.
Dullard sent photos to Museums Victoria, where Fitzgerald saw them and immediately suspected a new species.
Confirming the find was another matter.
This was the first mammalodontid to be identified in Australia since 2006 and only the third on record in the country.
Fossils of sufficient quality, with enough of the right details preserved to confirm uniqueness, are not common.
"Cetaceans represent a fairly miniscule population of all life," Fitzgerald said.
Millions of years of erosion, scavengers and ocean currents take their toll on whale skeletons too.
"It's only the chosen few, the vast minority of all whales that have ever lived and died in the oceans over millions of years, that actually get preserved as fossils," he added.
Finds such as Janjucetus dullardi can unlock insights into how prehistoric whales ate, moved, behaved - and evolved.
Researchers said the discoveries also helped to understand how ancient cetacean species adapted to warmer oceans, as they study how today's marine life might respond to climate change.
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The Advertiser
16 hours ago
- The Advertiser
Scientists identify 'deceptively cute' ancient whale
The chance discovery of a 25 million-year-old fossil on an Australian beach has allowed palaeontologists to identify a rare, entirely new species that could unlock mysteries of whale evolution. Researchers last week officially named Janjucetus dullardi, a cartoonish creature with bulging eyes the size of tennis balls, in the Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. Unlike today's whales, the juvenile specimen was small enough to fit in a single bed. Boasting fiendish teeth and a shark-like snout, however, this oddball of the ocean was nasty, mean and built to hunt. "It was, let's say, deceptively cute," said Erich Fitzgerald, senior curator of vertebrate palaeontology at Museums Victoria Research Institute, and one of the paper's authors. "It might have looked for all the world like some weird kind of mash-up between a whale, a seal and a Pokemon but they were very much their own thing." The rare discovery of the partial skull, including ear bones and teeth, was made in 2019 on a fossil-rich stretch of coast along Australia's Victoria state. Jan Juc Beach, a cradle for some of the weirdest whales in history, is becoming a hotspot for understanding early whale evolution, Fitzgerald said. Few family trees seem stranger than that of Janjucetus dullardi, only the fourth species ever identified from a group known as mammalodontids, early whales that lived only during the Oligocene Epoch, about 34-to-23 million years ago. That marked the point about halfway through the known history of whales. The tiny predators, thought to have grown to three metres in length, were an early branch on the line that led to today's great baleen whales, such as humpbacks, blues and minkes. But the toothy ancestors with powerful jaws would have looked radically different to any modern species. "They may have had tiny little nubbins of legs just projecting as stumps from the wall of the body," Fitzgerald said. That mystery will remain tantalisingly unsolved unless a specimen is uncovered with more of its skeleton intact, which would be something of a miracle. Even the partial skull that allowed the initial identification this week was an astonishing discovery. Janjucetus dullardi was named by researchers after an amateur fossil hunter who does not mind its looks in the slightest. "It's literally been the greatest 24 hours of my life," said Ross Dullard, who discovered the skull while fossil hunting at Jan Juc Beach. After Wednesday's confirmation of the new species, the school principal walked like a rock star on to campus with "high fives coming left, right and centre", he said. His friends and family are probably just relieved it is over. "That's all they've heard from me for about the last six years," he said. Dullard was on a regular low-tide hunt at Jan Juc the day he spotted something black protruding from a cliff. He knew enough to recognise it was unlikely to belong to a dog or a seal. "I thought, geez, we've got something special here," he said. Dullard sent photos to Museums Victoria, where Fitzgerald saw them and immediately suspected a new species. Confirming the find was another matter. This was the first mammalodontid to be identified in Australia since 2006 and only the third on record in the country. Fossils of sufficient quality, with enough of the right details preserved to confirm uniqueness, are not common. "Cetaceans represent a fairly miniscule population of all life," Fitzgerald said. Millions of years of erosion, scavengers and ocean currents take their toll on whale skeletons too. "It's only the chosen few, the vast minority of all whales that have ever lived and died in the oceans over millions of years, that actually get preserved as fossils," he added. Finds such as Janjucetus dullardi can unlock insights into how prehistoric whales ate, moved, behaved - and evolved. Researchers said the discoveries also helped to understand how ancient cetacean species adapted to warmer oceans, as they study how today's marine life might respond to climate change. The chance discovery of a 25 million-year-old fossil on an Australian beach has allowed palaeontologists to identify a rare, entirely new species that could unlock mysteries of whale evolution. Researchers last week officially named Janjucetus dullardi, a cartoonish creature with bulging eyes the size of tennis balls, in the Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. Unlike today's whales, the juvenile specimen was small enough to fit in a single bed. Boasting fiendish teeth and a shark-like snout, however, this oddball of the ocean was nasty, mean and built to hunt. "It was, let's say, deceptively cute," said Erich Fitzgerald, senior curator of vertebrate palaeontology at Museums Victoria Research Institute, and one of the paper's authors. "It might have looked for all the world like some weird kind of mash-up between a whale, a seal and a Pokemon but they were very much their own thing." The rare discovery of the partial skull, including ear bones and teeth, was made in 2019 on a fossil-rich stretch of coast along Australia's Victoria state. Jan Juc Beach, a cradle for some of the weirdest whales in history, is becoming a hotspot for understanding early whale evolution, Fitzgerald said. Few family trees seem stranger than that of Janjucetus dullardi, only the fourth species ever identified from a group known as mammalodontids, early whales that lived only during the Oligocene Epoch, about 34-to-23 million years ago. That marked the point about halfway through the known history of whales. The tiny predators, thought to have grown to three metres in length, were an early branch on the line that led to today's great baleen whales, such as humpbacks, blues and minkes. But the toothy ancestors with powerful jaws would have looked radically different to any modern species. "They may have had tiny little nubbins of legs just projecting as stumps from the wall of the body," Fitzgerald said. That mystery will remain tantalisingly unsolved unless a specimen is uncovered with more of its skeleton intact, which would be something of a miracle. Even the partial skull that allowed the initial identification this week was an astonishing discovery. Janjucetus dullardi was named by researchers after an amateur fossil hunter who does not mind its looks in the slightest. "It's literally been the greatest 24 hours of my life," said Ross Dullard, who discovered the skull while fossil hunting at Jan Juc Beach. After Wednesday's confirmation of the new species, the school principal walked like a rock star on to campus with "high fives coming left, right and centre", he said. His friends and family are probably just relieved it is over. "That's all they've heard from me for about the last six years," he said. Dullard was on a regular low-tide hunt at Jan Juc the day he spotted something black protruding from a cliff. He knew enough to recognise it was unlikely to belong to a dog or a seal. "I thought, geez, we've got something special here," he said. Dullard sent photos to Museums Victoria, where Fitzgerald saw them and immediately suspected a new species. Confirming the find was another matter. This was the first mammalodontid to be identified in Australia since 2006 and only the third on record in the country. Fossils of sufficient quality, with enough of the right details preserved to confirm uniqueness, are not common. "Cetaceans represent a fairly miniscule population of all life," Fitzgerald said. Millions of years of erosion, scavengers and ocean currents take their toll on whale skeletons too. "It's only the chosen few, the vast minority of all whales that have ever lived and died in the oceans over millions of years, that actually get preserved as fossils," he added. Finds such as Janjucetus dullardi can unlock insights into how prehistoric whales ate, moved, behaved - and evolved. Researchers said the discoveries also helped to understand how ancient cetacean species adapted to warmer oceans, as they study how today's marine life might respond to climate change. The chance discovery of a 25 million-year-old fossil on an Australian beach has allowed palaeontologists to identify a rare, entirely new species that could unlock mysteries of whale evolution. Researchers last week officially named Janjucetus dullardi, a cartoonish creature with bulging eyes the size of tennis balls, in the Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. Unlike today's whales, the juvenile specimen was small enough to fit in a single bed. Boasting fiendish teeth and a shark-like snout, however, this oddball of the ocean was nasty, mean and built to hunt. "It was, let's say, deceptively cute," said Erich Fitzgerald, senior curator of vertebrate palaeontology at Museums Victoria Research Institute, and one of the paper's authors. "It might have looked for all the world like some weird kind of mash-up between a whale, a seal and a Pokemon but they were very much their own thing." The rare discovery of the partial skull, including ear bones and teeth, was made in 2019 on a fossil-rich stretch of coast along Australia's Victoria state. Jan Juc Beach, a cradle for some of the weirdest whales in history, is becoming a hotspot for understanding early whale evolution, Fitzgerald said. Few family trees seem stranger than that of Janjucetus dullardi, only the fourth species ever identified from a group known as mammalodontids, early whales that lived only during the Oligocene Epoch, about 34-to-23 million years ago. That marked the point about halfway through the known history of whales. The tiny predators, thought to have grown to three metres in length, were an early branch on the line that led to today's great baleen whales, such as humpbacks, blues and minkes. But the toothy ancestors with powerful jaws would have looked radically different to any modern species. "They may have had tiny little nubbins of legs just projecting as stumps from the wall of the body," Fitzgerald said. That mystery will remain tantalisingly unsolved unless a specimen is uncovered with more of its skeleton intact, which would be something of a miracle. Even the partial skull that allowed the initial identification this week was an astonishing discovery. Janjucetus dullardi was named by researchers after an amateur fossil hunter who does not mind its looks in the slightest. "It's literally been the greatest 24 hours of my life," said Ross Dullard, who discovered the skull while fossil hunting at Jan Juc Beach. After Wednesday's confirmation of the new species, the school principal walked like a rock star on to campus with "high fives coming left, right and centre", he said. His friends and family are probably just relieved it is over. "That's all they've heard from me for about the last six years," he said. Dullard was on a regular low-tide hunt at Jan Juc the day he spotted something black protruding from a cliff. He knew enough to recognise it was unlikely to belong to a dog or a seal. "I thought, geez, we've got something special here," he said. Dullard sent photos to Museums Victoria, where Fitzgerald saw them and immediately suspected a new species. Confirming the find was another matter. This was the first mammalodontid to be identified in Australia since 2006 and only the third on record in the country. Fossils of sufficient quality, with enough of the right details preserved to confirm uniqueness, are not common. "Cetaceans represent a fairly miniscule population of all life," Fitzgerald said. Millions of years of erosion, scavengers and ocean currents take their toll on whale skeletons too. "It's only the chosen few, the vast minority of all whales that have ever lived and died in the oceans over millions of years, that actually get preserved as fossils," he added. Finds such as Janjucetus dullardi can unlock insights into how prehistoric whales ate, moved, behaved - and evolved. Researchers said the discoveries also helped to understand how ancient cetacean species adapted to warmer oceans, as they study how today's marine life might respond to climate change. The chance discovery of a 25 million-year-old fossil on an Australian beach has allowed palaeontologists to identify a rare, entirely new species that could unlock mysteries of whale evolution. Researchers last week officially named Janjucetus dullardi, a cartoonish creature with bulging eyes the size of tennis balls, in the Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. Unlike today's whales, the juvenile specimen was small enough to fit in a single bed. Boasting fiendish teeth and a shark-like snout, however, this oddball of the ocean was nasty, mean and built to hunt. "It was, let's say, deceptively cute," said Erich Fitzgerald, senior curator of vertebrate palaeontology at Museums Victoria Research Institute, and one of the paper's authors. "It might have looked for all the world like some weird kind of mash-up between a whale, a seal and a Pokemon but they were very much their own thing." The rare discovery of the partial skull, including ear bones and teeth, was made in 2019 on a fossil-rich stretch of coast along Australia's Victoria state. Jan Juc Beach, a cradle for some of the weirdest whales in history, is becoming a hotspot for understanding early whale evolution, Fitzgerald said. Few family trees seem stranger than that of Janjucetus dullardi, only the fourth species ever identified from a group known as mammalodontids, early whales that lived only during the Oligocene Epoch, about 34-to-23 million years ago. That marked the point about halfway through the known history of whales. The tiny predators, thought to have grown to three metres in length, were an early branch on the line that led to today's great baleen whales, such as humpbacks, blues and minkes. But the toothy ancestors with powerful jaws would have looked radically different to any modern species. "They may have had tiny little nubbins of legs just projecting as stumps from the wall of the body," Fitzgerald said. That mystery will remain tantalisingly unsolved unless a specimen is uncovered with more of its skeleton intact, which would be something of a miracle. Even the partial skull that allowed the initial identification this week was an astonishing discovery. Janjucetus dullardi was named by researchers after an amateur fossil hunter who does not mind its looks in the slightest. "It's literally been the greatest 24 hours of my life," said Ross Dullard, who discovered the skull while fossil hunting at Jan Juc Beach. After Wednesday's confirmation of the new species, the school principal walked like a rock star on to campus with "high fives coming left, right and centre", he said. His friends and family are probably just relieved it is over. "That's all they've heard from me for about the last six years," he said. Dullard was on a regular low-tide hunt at Jan Juc the day he spotted something black protruding from a cliff. He knew enough to recognise it was unlikely to belong to a dog or a seal. "I thought, geez, we've got something special here," he said. Dullard sent photos to Museums Victoria, where Fitzgerald saw them and immediately suspected a new species. Confirming the find was another matter. This was the first mammalodontid to be identified in Australia since 2006 and only the third on record in the country. Fossils of sufficient quality, with enough of the right details preserved to confirm uniqueness, are not common. "Cetaceans represent a fairly miniscule population of all life," Fitzgerald said. Millions of years of erosion, scavengers and ocean currents take their toll on whale skeletons too. "It's only the chosen few, the vast minority of all whales that have ever lived and died in the oceans over millions of years, that actually get preserved as fossils," he added. Finds such as Janjucetus dullardi can unlock insights into how prehistoric whales ate, moved, behaved - and evolved. Researchers said the discoveries also helped to understand how ancient cetacean species adapted to warmer oceans, as they study how today's marine life might respond to climate change.
Perth Now
17 hours ago
- Perth Now
Scientists identify 'deceptively cute' ancient whale
The chance discovery of a 25 million-year-old fossil on an Australian beach has allowed palaeontologists to identify a rare, entirely new species that could unlock mysteries of whale evolution. Researchers last week officially named Janjucetus dullardi, a cartoonish creature with bulging eyes the size of tennis balls, in the Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. Unlike today's whales, the juvenile specimen was small enough to fit in a single bed. Boasting fiendish teeth and a shark-like snout, however, this oddball of the ocean was nasty, mean and built to hunt. "It was, let's say, deceptively cute," said Erich Fitzgerald, senior curator of vertebrate palaeontology at Museums Victoria Research Institute, and one of the paper's authors. "It might have looked for all the world like some weird kind of mash-up between a whale, a seal and a Pokemon but they were very much their own thing." The rare discovery of the partial skull, including ear bones and teeth, was made in 2019 on a fossil-rich stretch of coast along Australia's Victoria state. Jan Juc Beach, a cradle for some of the weirdest whales in history, is becoming a hotspot for understanding early whale evolution, Fitzgerald said. Few family trees seem stranger than that of Janjucetus dullardi, only the fourth species ever identified from a group known as mammalodontids, early whales that lived only during the Oligocene Epoch, about 34-to-23 million years ago. That marked the point about halfway through the known history of whales. The tiny predators, thought to have grown to three metres in length, were an early branch on the line that led to today's great baleen whales, such as humpbacks, blues and minkes. But the toothy ancestors with powerful jaws would have looked radically different to any modern species. "They may have had tiny little nubbins of legs just projecting as stumps from the wall of the body," Fitzgerald said. That mystery will remain tantalisingly unsolved unless a specimen is uncovered with more of its skeleton intact, which would be something of a miracle. Even the partial skull that allowed the initial identification this week was an astonishing discovery. Janjucetus dullardi was named by researchers after an amateur fossil hunter who does not mind its looks in the slightest. "It's literally been the greatest 24 hours of my life," said Ross Dullard, who discovered the skull while fossil hunting at Jan Juc Beach. After Wednesday's confirmation of the new species, the school principal walked like a rock star on to campus with "high fives coming left, right and centre", he said. His friends and family are probably just relieved it is over. "That's all they've heard from me for about the last six years," he said. Dullard was on a regular low-tide hunt at Jan Juc the day he spotted something black protruding from a cliff. He knew enough to recognise it was unlikely to belong to a dog or a seal. "I thought, geez, we've got something special here," he said. Dullard sent photos to Museums Victoria, where Fitzgerald saw them and immediately suspected a new species. Confirming the find was another matter. This was the first mammalodontid to be identified in Australia since 2006 and only the third on record in the country. Fossils of sufficient quality, with enough of the right details preserved to confirm uniqueness, are not common. "Cetaceans represent a fairly miniscule population of all life," Fitzgerald said. Millions of years of erosion, scavengers and ocean currents take their toll on whale skeletons too. "It's only the chosen few, the vast minority of all whales that have ever lived and died in the oceans over millions of years, that actually get preserved as fossils," he added. Finds such as Janjucetus dullardi can unlock insights into how prehistoric whales ate, moved, behaved - and evolved. Researchers said the discoveries also helped to understand how ancient cetacean species adapted to warmer oceans, as they study how today's marine life might respond to climate change.
Sydney Morning Herald
2 days ago
- Sydney Morning Herald
Nvidia supercomputer marks ‘new era' for Australian AI
Nvidia, the world's most valuable company, is teaming with Monash University and Dell to build an Australia-first supercomputer that promises to elevate the country into the AI big leagues. The supercomputer, dubbed MAVERIC and built in collaboration with CDC Data Centres, will be purpose-built for large-scale AI and data-intensive workloads and feature technology never before deployed in the country. MAVERIC will be housed at CDC's facility in the Melbourne suburb of Brooklyn, with construction to begin later this year. The system is expected to go live in early 2026, and was the subject of a meeting between Australia's ambassador to the US Kevin Rudd, Assistant Minister for Science Andrew Charlton and Nvidia executives on Wednesday morning. 'Without this kind of AI super-computer power, Australian researchers are trying to compete on the world stage with one arm tied behind their back,' Monash University vice-chancellor Sharon Pickering said in an interview. 'We are making a $60 million investment here so that Australia can be world leaders, and not just be willing to take second place. We have to be willing to be the best in the world and for our world-leading researchers; my job is to get them the best infrastructure in the world to support them.' MAVERIC will initially focus on advancing medical research, Pickering said, including developing new pharmaceutical products and personalising treatments for patients suffering from acute medical conditions. It will also focus on environmental issues including a study of the Antarctic and research into the impact of heat on populations. It will be available to university researchers and academics, students and research partners. The supercomputer will be built using Dell racks and servers and feature Nvidia's GB200 NVL72 platform. Amid debate about Australia's role in the global AI arms race, Dell Australia managing director Angela Fox said that MAVERIC represented a 'leapfrogging' opportunity for the nation in its AI capabilities. 'It allows researchers to use increasingly sophisticated AI models to tackle some of Australia and the world's most pressing issues and will deliver lasting value for the nation,' she said. 'It's a massive win for the research community and for Australia as a whole.'
