The largest dataset of cetacean genes ever collated has helped scientists deep dive 'into the blue' to fathom the 'triumph' of baleen whale evolution. The new study explores the key genetic ...

Dr James Rule (L) and Dr Erich Fitzgerald (R) with the Murray River whale fossil at Melbourne Museum. Credit: Eugene Hyland. Source: Museums Victoria Dr James Rule (L) and Dr Erich Fitzgerald (R) with ...

Call it an unfinished story, but with a plot that's a grabber. It's the tale of an ancient land mammal making its way back to the sea, becoming the forerunner of today's whales. In doing so, it lost ...

The fossil record of baleen whales (Mysticeti) offers a window into one of the most dramatic evolutionary transitions among mammals. Early cetaceans evolved from terrestrial artiodactyl ancestors into ...

About 25 million years ago, the warm, shallow seas off the southern coast of Australia were home to a bountiful scene of ocean-dwelling creatures. “In these seas, there was this extraordinary ...

Groundbreaking new research from the Museums Victoria Research Institute has turned upside down our previous understanding of the evolution of the largest animals ever––baleen whales. Palaeontologists ...

Females of some whale species have evolved to live drastically longer lives so they can care for their families, new research shows. Females of some whale species have evolved to live drastically ...

Long before the ocean’s largest filter-feeders roamed the seas, their smaller, sharper cousins ruled the warm shallows. One such predator, newly named Janjucetus dullardi, offers a striking glimpse ...

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — Long before whales were majestic, gentle giants, some of their prehistoric ancestors were tiny, weird and feral. A chance discovery of a 25 million-year-old fossil on an ...