It is part of the ancestral pool of species that led to modern baleen whales, like blue whales, humpbacks and right whales. The finding debunks a long-held theory that the teeth of prehistoric whales were shaped to allow water to sieve through them, like the teeth of modern leopard and crabeater seals, and that the filter function drove a linear evolution between teeth and baleen. Facebook Twitter Pinterest Research led by Museums Victoria found that prehistoric whales had sharp teeth similar to modern terrestrial carnivores. It was a hypothetical suggestion to illustrate his theory of evolution but the “neat linear story” of how whales developed baleen persisted, Fitzgerald said. The new research published in Biology Letters on Wednesday supports an alternate theory that whales were ruthless predators that lost their teeth before evolving baleen.

Source: The Guardian August 29, 2017 23:01 UTC