Tokarahia facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Tokarahia |
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Scientific classification  |
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| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Artiodactyla |
| Infraorder: | Cetacea |
| Family: | †Eomysticetidae |
| Genus: | †Tokarahia Boessenecker and Fordyce, 2015 |
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Tokarahia is a type of baleen whale that lived a very long time ago. These whales are now extinct. They lived during the Late Oligocene period, about 25 to 27 million years ago. Scientists have found their fossils in New Zealand.
There are two known species of Tokarahia: T. kauaeroa and T. lophocephalus.
What Did Tokarahia Look Like?
Tokarahia was a baleen whale, meaning it had baleen plates in its mouth instead of teeth. These plates helped it filter food from the water.
Scientists can tell Tokarahia apart from other ancient whales by looking at its skull and ear bones. For example, parts of its cheekbone were long and curved. Its ear bone had a special diamond shape.
Tokarahia was similar to another ancient whale called Tohoraata raekohao. Both had many small holes in their forehead bones. They also shared similar features in their ear bones. However, there were still differences in the exact shape of their ear bones.
The two species of Tokarahia are mainly told apart by their ear bone structure. Also, the way their skulls were shaped (called "cranial telescoping") helped scientists tell them apart.
How Was Tokarahia Discovered?
The first species, Tokarahia kauaeroa, was named based on a fossil found in New Zealand. This fossil, called OU 22235, was discovered in a rock layer known as the Otekaike Limestone.
The second species, T. lophocephalus, was also found in New Zealand. Its main fossil, OM GL 412, and another fossil, OM GL 443, came from the Kokoamu Greensand. When it was first found, scientists thought it was a new type of Mauicetus. But later, they realized it was a different kind of ancient whale, an eomysticetid, and named it Tokarahia lophocephalus.
How Did Tokarahia Eat?
Scientists believe Tokarahia probably did not eat by "lunge-feeding." Lunge-feeding is when a whale swims fast with its mouth open to scoop up a lot of water and prey, like modern humpback whales do.
This is because Tokarahia had large areas on its skull for jaw muscles and a big canal in its jawbone. These features suggest it might not have been built for such powerful, fast feeding.
It's still not clear exactly how Tokarahia ate. It might have "skim-fed," which means swimming slowly with its mouth open to filter small prey near the surface. Or, it might have filtered food from the ocean floor, a method called "benthic feeding."
