A new species of dolphin has been discovered with a short, spoon shaped nose, and a high bulbous forehead. This new “balloon head” dolphin has been identified from fossilized remains discovered in the North Sea.
The Platalearostrum hoekmani was given its name after Albert Hoekman, the Dutch fisherman who stumbled across the skull of the creature in 2008.
These newly discovered dolphins can be up to eighteen feet long, and roamed the world’s oceans some two to three million years ago.
The remains of the amazing creature and a model are part of a fascinating display at the Natural History Museum Rotterdam.
Researchers from the museum, Klaas Post and Erwin Kompanie have gone on record in the journal Deinsea as commenting that the North Sea is a very rich source of fossils in recent years, and has become even more prevalent as fishing has become more common there.
The increase in fishing activity has yielded thousand upon thousands of fossils – many which cannot even begun to be classified.
The only thing which is clear at the moment is that the bone discovered by Mr. Hoekman is that the creature belonging to it is within the same family of aquatic animals known as Delphinids – ocean dwelling dolphins which actually encompasses killer and pilot whales as well.
Anything more descriptive than that is somewhat left in the air.
Based on research, and comparisons of similar fossils, scientists still think that the new species discovered is closest to the pilot whale in the spectrum.