article_snippet.sent: Since Herman Melville penned Herman Melville novel Moby Dick more than 150 years ago, scientists have been fascinated by the remarkable attributes of the sperm whale and the sperm whale kin - the smaller pygmy and dwarf whales.
article_snippet.sent: Now, fossils from an extinct pygmy sperm whale that died seven million years ago, have shed new light on the evolution of modern day whales.
article_snippet.sent: Fossils from an extinct pygmy sperm whale that died seven million years ago have shed new light on the evolution of modern day whales. 
article_snippet.sent: While many whales, dolphins and porpoises have a long fossil record, enabling scientists to understand scientists evolution, there is limited evidence of sperm whales and smaller pygmy and dwarf whales, which are capable of navigating the ocean deep underwater.
article_snippet.sent: Now an international team of scientists, led by the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County has discovered a new species of extinct pygmy sperm whale, called Nanokogia isthmia, which clarifies key aspects of the evolution of these  animals.
article_snippet.sent: the sperm whale is the largest of the toothed whales and the largest toothed predator.
article_snippet.sent: the sperm whale's only one of three living species in the sperm whale family, along with the pygmy sperm whale and dwarf sperm whale.
article_snippet.sent: The study, published in the journal Plos One, shows that at one time small sperm whales measuring  around seven feet (two metres in length) had a much larger spermaceti organ relative to small sperm whales measuring  around seven feet (two metres in length) size than  modern day relatives.
article_snippet.sent: It got downsized at least twice during their evolutionary history, including the evolutionary event that gave origin to the living pygmy and dwarf sperm whales.
article_snippet.sent: Lead researcher Dr Jorge Velez-Juarbe said: ‘The new discovery gives us a better understanding of the ancient distribution of these poorly known relatives of the sperm whale.
article_snippet.sent: Previously we knew of similarly-aged pygmy and dwarf whales from Baja California and Peru, but this new fossil fills in an important geographic gap in the group’s ancient distribution.
article_snippet.sent: The fossils show that at one time small sperm whales measuring  around seven feet (two metres in length) had a much larger spermaceti organ relative to small sperm whales measuring  around seven feet (two metres in length) size.
highlights_snippet.sent: Team of scientists discovered new species of extinct pygmy sperm whale .
  
highlights_snippet.sent: Today's larger sperm whales are able to navigate under water with ease .