File:Llanocetus Denticrinatus.jpg
Llanocetus denticrenatus is the oldest known mysticete (or baleen whale). It was discovered in the La Meseta Formation on Seymour Island in Antarctica in 1989. Only the skull has been unearthed so far; the skeleton has yet to be fully unearthed and described. It probably lived 34 to 35 million years ago in colder seas near the Antarctic. It had tiny peg-like teeth which jutted out in a fan-like spread from a larger tooth (which was covered over by the gums). From these teeth grew primitive baleen (stuff like your fingernails are made of). These baleen-growing teeth were very widely separated within the jaw.
The skull is long and narrow, somewhat looking like a dolphin's. The upper jaw is exceptionally slender (more so than the lower jaw), and the lower jaw is exceptionally wide at the rear.
It's not entirely clear what the body looked like, but it probably looked like a minke whale. It was about 30 feet long (9 m).Llanocetus denticrinatus skull 01 - Smithsonian
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