Scientists finally found the missing evolutionary link between the modern whales’ toothed ancestors, the basilosaurids, and the filter-feeding mysticetes, which include the blue whale, the humpback whale, and the right whale. A recent paper describes a 36.4-million-year-old whale fossil with teeth and small vestigial hind limbs, which also help connect it to the whales’ ancient land-dwelling […]
Tag: baleen whales
How whale mouth nerves stretch to nearly double their length during feeding 
Rorqual whales – a family of baleen whales that includes the biggest of the species, the fin and the blue whale – take in an enormous amount of water and small prey during each feeding. In order to maximize each meal, they open their mouths wide and lunge towards the prey. In the process, the […]
