Australian scientists have discovered a razor-toothed whale that prowled the seas 26 million years ago, saying Wednesday the species was "deceptively cute" but a fearsome predator.

Museums Victoria pieced together the species from an unusually well-preserved skull fossil found on Victoria's Surf Coast in 2019.

Scientists discovered a "fast, sharp-toothed predator" that would have been about the size of a dolphin.

"It's essentially a little whale with big eyes and a mouth full of sharp, slicing teeth," said researcher Ruairidh Duncan.

"Imagine the shark-like version of a baleen whale -- small and deceptively cute, but definitely not harmless."

The skull belonged to a group of prehistoric whales known as the mammalodontids, distant smaller relatives of today's filter-feeding whales.

It

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