Scientist unlocks secrets to the origin of whales
Washington, December 23 (ANI): A scientist has unlocked the secrets to the origin of baleen whales, thanks to a 25 million year old fossil found near Torquay in Victoria in Australia.
The scientist in question is Museum Victoria palaeobiologist Dr Erich Fitzgerald.
Dr Fitzgerald’s study is centred on Mammalodon colliveri, a primitive toothed baleen whale, one of a group of whales that includes the largest animal ever to have lived, the blue whale.
Although Mammalodon was discovered in 1932 and named in 1939, it has remained relatively unknown until now.
“Through study of Mammalodon, I hypothesise that it was a bottom-feeding mud-sucker that may have used its tongue and short, blunt snout to suck small prey from sand and mud on the seafloor. This indicates early and varied experimentation in the evolution of baleen whales”, explained Dr Fitzgerald.
The research conducted by Dr Fitzgerald supports Charles Darwin’s speculation in ‘The Origin of Species’, that some of the earliest baleen whales may have been suction feeders, and that their mud grubbing served as a precursor to the filter feeding of today’s giants of the deep.
Although Mammalodon had a total body length of about 3 metres, it was a bizarre early offshoot from the lineage leading to the 30 metre long blue whale.
The new research shows that Mammalodon is a dwarf, having evolved into a relatively tiny form from larger ancestors.
Mammalodon belongs to the same family as Janjucetus hunderi, fossils of which were also found in 25 million year old Oligocene rocks near Torquay in Victoria.
This family is unique to south east Australia, their fossils only being discovered in Victoria.
“Clearly the seas off southern Australia were a cradle for the evolution of a variety of tiny, weird whales that seem to have lived nowhere else”, said Dr Fitzgerald. (ANI)
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This is really great to discover the origin of the whales from the fossils of a mammalodon found a long ago.
Discoveries are really very interesting and always even after been discovered leaves back a keen thirst of discovering more.
The whales have mutated to this extend where we see them now in the current state. Mutation will continue as it is the law of nature. Lets see what nature brings next.