The Oldest Right Whale Found in Japan

This is a strange coincidence: the oldest remains of a right whale have been found in the only country still hunting whales against the international law. A museum in Nagano prefecture (180 km (110 mi) northwest of Tokyo) possesses the most ancient right whale fossils, at least 5 million years old.

"Researchers working in Nagano prefecture estimate the fossilized skull bones and jaw of a right whale on display at the Shinshushinmachi Fossil (nasdaq: FOSL - news - people ) Museum to be 5 million to 6 million years old. The oldest right whale fossil previously found was a skeleton that was uncovered in Italy that dates back about 4 million years. This was an amazing find, and to have found the oldest one of this type makes it truly remarkable" said museum curator Ken Narita.
The whale's skeleton was first found in 1938, when locals discovered the spine and rib bones exposed on the ground. But the skeleton was left there as the country was then at war.

"Researchers finally returned to the site in 1967, but the exposed parts of the skeleton had been scattered or lost. Only the skull and upper jaw parts were left to be excavated, but it was not until recently that the museum could afford to get the bones dated" said Narita.

"While of the right whale genus, the animal's species is believed to have been different from those of other right whale fossils found so far," he added.

The new fossils at the Nagano reveal some information that "raises the possibility that right whales might have originated in the North Pacific," said co-researcher Toshiyuki Kimura, curator of the Gunma Museum of Natural History. Right whales are the most endangered whale species and banned for hunting by the International Whaling Commission. The entire North Atlantic right whale population is of only 350, while the North Pacific population is just of 200.

Cetaceans (dolphins and whales) evolved 50 million years ago from the ancestors of...hippopotamuses. About 15 million years ago the first baleen whales came into existence.