Oerwalvissen

Scientific expeditions by the Natural History Museum on the Western Scheldt between 2014 and 2019 yielded a treasure trove of fossils: massive chunks of sandstone containing nearly intact skulls of marine mammals. After thousands of hours of cleaning, the fossils proved to be among the best-preserved in Europe. Research showed that at least six species of dolphins and whales lived in the ancient North Sea between 7.5 and 8.8 million years ago. Even more remarkably, these species turned out to be new to science. Their fossils have never been found before or in other locations.

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 Peruvian desert. The complete animal was 13 to 18 meters long and had teeth measuring 36 centimeters. It turned out to be the largest predatory sperm whale ever. The Natural History Museum possesses a lifelike reconstruction of the skull. Predatory sperm whales are extinct relatives of the modern sperm whale. They had large teeth in both the upper and lower jaws, whereas the modern sperm whale has a narrow, weak lower jaw with small teeth. Predatory sperm whales hunted other whales and sharks, which they bit to pieces.

Individual teeth of comparable size have been found in the Western Scheldt. So, giant sperm whales also lived in the ancient North Sea!