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 ...

This slower evolution in turn suggests that, early on in their evolution, these filter-feeding whales achieved an optimal skull morphology, which required less subsequent modification. Open the ...

"That's when the tiny braincase started to make sense, because early whales have big skulls ... realizing what this meant for the evolution of whales—it was overwhelming," she remembers.

As evolutionary biologist Neil Shubin points out, "In one sense, evolution didn't invent anything new with whales. It was just tinkering with land mammals. It's using the old to make the new." ...

Early ancestors of the ocean's biggest animals once walked on land. Follow their extraordinary journey from shore to sea. Although whales are expert swimmers and perfectly adapted to life underwater, ...

Taylor hunted down fossils that lived on early humpback whales, and bingo: They did. He hopes to shed light on prehistoric whales’ movements, as well as on the evolution of the oceans.

For several years now, Coombs has been studying whale skull peculiarities—such as the structure’s unusual asymmetry in some species—and their implications for cetacean evolution. She first started ...