WELLINGTON, New Zealand — Long before whales were majestic, gentle giants, some of their prehistoric ancestors were tiny, weird and feral. A chance discovery of a 25 million-year-old fossil on an Australian beach has allowed paleontologists to identify a rare, entirely new species that could unlock mysteries of whale evolution.

What You Need To Know

Paleontologists have identified a new whale species from a 25-million-year-old fossil found on an Australian beach

Named Janjucetus dullardi, this creature had bulging eyes and fiendish teeth

It was an early ancestor of the baleen whale but only measured 10 feet in length.

his species is only the fourth identified from the mammalodontids group, early whales from the Oligocene Epoch

Researchers this week officially named Janjucetus dullard

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