Fossils revealed to be ancient white sperm whale, named Albicetus in reference to Herman Melville's novel

Living sperm whales are represented by only three species ( Physeter macrocephalus , Kogia breviceps and Kogia sima ), but their fossil record provides evidence of an ecologically diverse array of different forms, including morphologies and body sizes without analog among living physeteroids. Here we provide a redescription of Ontocetus oxymycterus , a large but incomplete fossil sperm whale specimen from the middle Miocene Monterey Formation of California.
Read more: http://ift.tt/1jP4XJH