Twenty-five million years ago, a menacing giant dolphin that feasted on killer whales was the apex predator of the ocean, a new study has revealed. 9News
The researchers say the species was "very clearly preying upon large-bodied prey like a killer whale".
But swimmers need not fear – the creature is believed to have been extinct for around 23 million years.In findings that surprised the South Carolina research team, they found the dolphin evolved similar swimming features – including an extending of the tail and shortening of the flippers – to baleen whales and modern whales at the same time, but completely independently.
"Whales and dolphins have a complicated and long evolutionary history, and at a glance, you may not get that impression from modern species," he said. "The fossil record has really cracked open this long, winding evolutionary path, and fossils like Ankylorhiza help illuminate how this happened." The researcher hopes that more recently discovered fossils of juvenile Ankylorhiza will provide further insights into the ancient dolphin's growth.
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