Thirteen Million-Year-Old Dolphin Fossil Discovered for the First Time in Korea

For the first time ever, a fossil of a dolphin that lived on the east coast of the Korean peninsula approximately 13 million years ago was discovered in Korea.

On July 6, Lim Jong-deok (37), a BK 21 professor of the Civil Urban and GeoSystem Engineering College at Seoul National University, said that a fossil of a dolphin’s mouth was discovered in a Miocene stratum formation from the Cenozoic Era, at least 13 million years old, in Pohang City, Gyeongbuk Province.

This is the first time that a dolphin fossil has been discovered in Korea.

The fossil, seven centimeter long and five centimeters wide, is part of a dolphin’s mouth and has a total of eight teeth, with four teeth on both sides. The size of the entire dolphin is estimated to be two meters.

Professor Lim explained, “Because all the teeth face outward, the dolphin is confirmed to belong to the Kentriodontidae, which became extinct 10 million to eight million years ago.”

The dolphin is similar to the Delphis delphis, or Delphis capensis, which are the most common types found in the East Sea.

The research result supported by the Korea Research Foundation (KRF) will be published in the international journal “Current Science” under the title of “First-ever Dolphin Fossil Discovered in Korea” at the end of this month.

The dolphin fossil will be put on display and open to the public at the Donghae Dolphin Fossil Museum in Donghae City, Gangwon Province.

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