During the land-to-water transition in the Eocene epoch, the cetacean skeleton underwent modifications to accommodate life in the seas. These changes are well-documented in the fossil record. The ...

Analyzing the anatomy of early fossil cetaceans in the context of modern mammals to understand the evolution of cetaceans from terrestrial ancestors. The evolution of modern cetaceans (including ...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The blue, fin, bowhead, gray, humpback, right and sperm whales are the largest animals alive today. In fact, the blue whale is the largest-known creature ever on Earth, topping ...

If you've ever seen a dolphin swim, you may have wondered why they undulate their bodies up and down when swimming, instead of side to side as fishes do. Though they have a fishlike body, cetaceans (a ...

A newly discovered fossil dating to the age of the dinosaurs has provided insight into the evolution of aquatic species that exist today. Research published December 24, 2021, in Science describes how ...

Once upon a time, dolphins and orcas roamed the land. But today, they’re so deeply adapted to life in the ocean that going back is no longer an option. A new study reveals just how irreversible their ...

Did the first ancestors of whales pick up where the mosasaurs left off 66 million years ago, after the extinction of all the large predatory marine reptiles? A study has looked into the possible ...

Humans don’t hear that well underwater. But cetaceans – a group of marine mammals that includes whales, dolphins and porpoises – use sound in diverse ways. Baleen whales produce low-frequency calls ...

A type of algae, called diatoms, have been key to the evolution of the diversity of whales, according to a new study. "The fossil record clearly shows that diatoms and whales rose and fell in ...

Did the first ancestors of whales pick up where the mosasaurs left off 66 million years ago, after the extinction of all the large predatory marine reptiles? A study conducted by Rebecca Bennion, a ...