ExtinctZoo - Prehistoric Dolphins Were Absolutely Terrifying

Episode Date: June 3, 2024

Flipper wasn't so nice and wholesome back in the day. For some reason it seems like every animal we all adore was at one point quite monstrous as demonstrated by the Ankylorhiza, a prehistoric nightmarish dolphin.

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You win? Details at Yamava.com must be 21-20. Please gamble responsibly. Monopoly is a trademark of Hasbro. Hasbro is not a sponsor of this promotion. Dolphins, an animal we all love. Not only are they amazing creatures which have evolved crazy traits that have allowed them to conquer the oceans worldwide, with over 40 species being known, but they are also cute,

cuddly, highly intelligent, and just overall wholesome. Right? Well, not exactly. Because like many, dolphins do possess a darker side and have been caught doing some rather questionable things. For example, they are known to practice in fantasy. harass others of their own kind, eat pufferfish to get high, kidnap other dolphins, and even will seemingly kill for fun.

This may be surprising to some, yet don't forget, there is a notorious animal that everyone can agree is rather intimidating, to say the least, which also happens to be a dolphin, and that is the killer whale. It is built a fierce reputation over the years thanks to its antics, which includes killing other dolphins and sinking ships. But not even the killer whale is likely to raise your thylopause. classophobia levels by much, since they don't necessarily look as nightmarish as some of the other classics like sharks and giant squids. However, once upon a time before humans, lions,

or even the Sahara itself, dolphins were pretty freaking scary, and one of the most terrifying of the bunch was no doubt, the Enkilo Riza. There's a good chance you've never heard of this creature in your entire life. But this dolphin's existence has actually been known to science for close to 140 years. Although, at the time of its discovery, nobody was aware of this prehistoric killing machine's true nature, as the holotype only consisted of a partial snout found within the state of South Carolina. So, not exactly much to go off of.

And it didn't help that the man who found it and described it wasn't a paleontologist. Rather, a zoologist who couldn't make up his mind on what exactly this new animal was. So, he simply described it as a new species of squalidon. It extinct genus of whale from the ligacine and myocene epochs, which was a wastebasket taxin back in those days, meaning it was used to classify newly discovered animals that people were unsure about. In the case of Enchilariza, this misclassification stuck for a painstakingly long amount of time, as it wasn't until 2020 that things changed, when a nearly complete skeleton of a large-toothed

whale was located in the exact same area where the first discovery had been made. This new specimen had a snout that perfectly matched the originals. Yet the body definitely did not belong to a squalidon, leading researchers to realize that the zoologist all those years ago had in reality unknowingly discovered a brand new dolphin, which they quickly renamed to Enkila Riza Tidimani. Even though it was now clear that Enkila Riza had been misclassified, it actually hadn't been misjudged that badly, as it remained cetacean and, more importantly, a member of the parvorder Odontociti.

aka the toothed whales, which includes oceanic dolphins, river dolphins, porpoises, sperm whales, and virtually any other whale with teeth. More detailed research into its morphology further found it to be a primitive member of this group, mainly due to its hands and fingers which are located inside their pectoral fins, which were found to be proportionally longer than other species. This primitiveness was an important find as it made the Enkila Riza something of a middle ground between the basilisoridae and modern dolphins in terms of evolution. What really struck everyone though wasn't the forelimbs but rather its exceptional size. In fact, adult and Kylo Riza were the largest toothed whales known from the entire Oligocene

epoch, with adults measuring 4.8 meters or 16 feet in length, similar to the measurements of a great white shark that's on the larger side. Keep holding your breath though, because Enkiloosa likely got even bigger. Seeing that paleontologists are only aware of a handful of adult specimens. Plus, dolphins and whales generally have quite a spectrum in size amongst individuals. With giant bottlenose dolphins, for example, sometimes being up to three times bigger than the average-sized individual. Nonetheless, 16 feet or 4.8 meters is no laughing matter, especially when the animal in question also possesses one of the most freakish mouths ever seen in the animal kingdom. In Kylo Riza, as its name suggests,

Jets, meaning fused roots, had extremely deep-seated teeth that were giant, sharp, conical, and coated in thick layers of cementum, rendering them perfect weapons for grabbing and piercing. This piercing power was multiplied by the presence of longitudinal ridges that allowed bice to slice deeper into flesh than normal. And if you couldn't tell by now, the teeth also had a rather nightmarish angle, jutting out of the mouth in every direction, especially at the front of the skull where they stuck out almost like spearheads. This rather peculiar position has confused many, since it raised the question of how Enchaloriza

would have benefited from teeth that weren't even in its mouth. The answer, as it turns out, was that these frontal teeth were not used for biting prey, but rather for ramming them. With its sleek, agile build, the Enchilariza could have easily mustered enough momentum to cause catastrophic damage with its forward-facing teeth. Paleontologists think it used this unconventional method in a similar manner as Orchic used their own ramming abilities, which is to say essentially for dispatching larger targets. Additionally, and Kyla Reza may have utilized this weapon for fights with other individuals too,

for for mating rights or over territory. Pretty hardcore to say the least. Yet, this prehistoric dolphin by no means stopped at just having a lethal built-in battering ram, because that's obviously not enough. Thus, along with its spear-like teeth, and Kyla Reza had a skull unlike anything seen in other toothed whales that gave it a monstrous bite. For one, it was constructed with robust bones and was proportionally giant, making up 20% of its entire body length, while also being relatively wide. But the real kicker was the size of its temporal fossa, the depressions seen on both sides of the skull, and in the Enchial Riza, they attributed for 25% of the skull's entire length, forming the largest temporal fossa of any known toothed whale. This is a big deal, as the

the size of temporal fasce has been heavily linked to bite force due to it acting as an attachment point for large muscles. So this, coupled with its thick teeth, further confirmed that it had one hellish bite that could have even rivaled that of extinct macro predatory whales, like the bacillosaurus, or zygophyseter. On top of this, and Kyla Riza had a unique neck that further enhanced its killing potential, having been extremely flexible in nature, allowing it to both more easily maneuver and bite vulnerable parts of prey, as well as hold on to victims during intense struggles without having to let

go while chomping down. And fossil remains support the idea that once it got hold of something, it wasn't a pretty sight. As in Kyla Reza Teeth are some of the most banged up known to science, showing extreme damage and stress, indicating powerful impacts with flesh, muscle, and solid bone. Such a bite, coupled with the ability to ram and presumably swim fast thanks to its sleek build, all painted one terrifying picture of a super predator, which paleontologists believe likely played the role of an orca within its environment.

In other words, a top predator that was practically untouchable. This would have also made it the first known large-toothed whale capable of attacking and eating large prey items, which would have come in the form of a mix of turtles, sharks, large fish, marine crocs, cyrenians, rays, and potentially even other cetaceans. In hunting other cetaceans, it's believed to have used its ramming capabilities, but it also had numbers on its side, because for the most part, all modern dolphins are highly social creatures that either live in pods or have fusion fission societies, which are small groups that constantly change as individuals come and go.

So as a cohesive unit, and Kyleriza would have especially been the sight to sea and fear. It was undoubtedly a highly successful predator, and yet interestingly, it preferred a small and humble domain, with fossils being restricted to South Carolina, which during the oligocene was partially submerged by shallow warm waters. Yet for being confined to such a small area, the Enchilariza still lived with a diverse amount of life, many of which were likely prey, and consisted of a prehistoric seal, devil rays, stingrays, cow nose rays, wedgefish, sea turtles, an abundance of different bony fish, the marine croc, Theka champs, and over ten kinds of sharks, including nurse sharks,

Requiem sharks, Weasel sharks, hammerheads, thresher sharks, ground sharks, saw sharks, megatooth sharks, and spur dogs. In addition to a shark-rich environment, South Carolina at the time was also home to multiple kinds of dolphins and whales besides in Kailariza, like the Coronadon, Xenoraphis, Alberta Cetus, and Agoraphis. All four of them were also toothy. But yet, they still got the short end of the stick when compared to their relative, since Enchaloresa was both the biggest and had the strongest bite. This dolphin was also the biggest animal in its environment, period, besides the harmless Sirenians. Rendering adults nearly unstoppable forces and making South Carolina one of the rare places where the worst animal you could swim into was a dolphin. And it remained a dolphin-dominated area for quite some time, within Kaila Riza existing for over 6 million years.

specifically between 29 and 23 million years ago. Sadly, or not, depending on who you ask, this prehistoric dolphin eventually vanished from the fossil records, which left a power vacuum within its habitat that was subsequently filled by Squalidon, and later by macro-reptorial sperm whales and orcas. Currently, no one has any idea of what happened to the Enchial Rhysa. Perhaps it evolved into something else, or maybe it was simply out-competed. Climate change and changing sea levels have also been loosely cited. However, whatever the case, we should probably just be thankful that people can swim at beaches

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