Oldest Antarctic Whale Found; Shows Fast Evolution   National Geographic - November 17, 2011
The oldest known whale to ply the Antarctic has been found, scientists say. A 24-inch-long (60-centimeter-long) jawbone was recently discovered amid a rich deposit of fossils on the Antarctic Peninsula. The creature, which may have reached lengths of up to 20 feet (6 meters), had a mouthful of teeth and likely feasted on giant penguins, sharks, and big bony fish, whose remains were also discovered with the jawbone.

Giant whale-eating whale discovered   MSNBC - June 30, 2010

Skull of 13 million-year-old fossil found off coast of Peru

Story of 4.5-Million-Year-Old Whale Found in Spain   Science Daily - December 23, 2009

Ancient whale sucked mud for food   BBC - December 26, 2009

Early Whales Gave Birth on Land, Fossils Reveal   National Geographic - February 3, 2009

Deer like Mammal Was Whale Ancestor?   National Geographic - December 20, 2007
Whales Evolved From Tiny Deerlike Mammals, Study Says National Geographic - December 20, 2007

Australia: Whale fossil sports fierce teeth   BBC - August 16, 2006

Savage ancient whale was 'marine T-rex', researchers say.

Rock art hints at whaling origins   BBC - April 20, 2004

November 6, 2001 - AP

Australia: It had all the hallmarks of a typical whale rescue - except this whale was about 30 million years old. Volunteers and scientists gathered yesterday at Port Willunga beach to haul a fossilized whale skull from its sandy resting place. The only problem was the skull - the oldest whale specimen found in SA - was embedded in a 500kg sandstone boulder, requiring a four-wheel drive to drag it free. In what became a day of drama, the hardy "rescue team" battled rain, a rock-strewn beach and a troublesome pickaxe to heave the massive rock on to a truck.

From there it was transported to the SA Museum, on North Tce, where the boulder will be placed in a vat of acid to remove the skull from its rocky tomb. The ancestral toothed whale, a relative of modern whales and dolphins, died and was fossilized on the ocean bed about 30 million years ago, when the sea covered what is now Adelaide. When the seas retreated, the skeleton was trapped in the sandstone cliffs of Port Willunga. Erosion eventually took its toll and the boulder containing the skull toppled on to the beach. To the untrained eye it appeared like any other rock, being played on by children and used as a hiding place for crabs. About a month ago retired paleontologist Neville Pledge visited the beach in the hope of finding fossil fragments and noticed the back of the skull poking through the rock.