Oerwalvissen

Scientific expeditions of the Natural History Department on the Western Scheldt yielded a trove of fossils between 2014 and 2019: heavy chunks of sandstone containing almost flawless skulls of marine mammals. After thousands of hours of cleaning, the fossils turned out to be among the best preserved in Europe. Research showed that at least six species of dolphins and whales lived in the primeval North Sea between 7.5 and 8.8 million years ago. In fact, these species turned out to be new to science. Their fossils had never been found before or in other places.

In 2008, researchers from the natural history museums of Rotterdam, Brussels, Paris, Pisa and Lima found the 9 million year old remains of a sea monster in the desert of Peru. The complete animal was 13 to 18 meters long and had teeth of 36 centimeters. It turned out to be the largest predatory sperm whale ever. The Natural History Museum has a lifelike reconstruction of the skull. Predatory sperm whales are extinct relatives of the modern sperm whale. They had large teeth in the lower and upper jaw, while the modern sperm whale has a narrow, weak lower jaw with small teeth. Predatory sperm whales hunted other whales and sharks, which they bit into pieces.

Loose teeth of a similar size have been found in the Western Scheldt. Giant predatory sperm whales also lived in the primeval North Sea!