Bijzondere vondsten: Een fossiel slippertje?

An aberrant fossil atlas of a dolphin (Late Pleistocene – Early Holocene) from the North Sea is discussed. The anterior side cannot be distinguished from that of a bottle-nose dolphin ( Tursiops truncatus), the posterior side clearly bears an articulation facet for the dens of the axis. In all dolphins the atlas, axis and possibly further cervical vertebrae are fused. The atlas under consideration is not pathological, comes from the Late Pleistocene or Early Holocene, and shows a mixture of dolphin and monodontid features. It appears that it might be the result of a fossil liaison between a white whale ( Delphinapterus leucas) and a bottle-nose dolphin ( Tursiops truncatus). Against this assumption is the fact that hybrids within the delphinoid families occur often, but have never been reported between families. In addition, the white whale prefers colder sea, whereas the dolphins prefer warmer waters.