The evolution of modern cetaceans (including whales, dolphins, and porpoises) from terrestrial ancestors required many drastic anatomical, physiological, and behavioral changes. The development of an ...

A recent research revealed a remarkable story of whale evolution—how these magnificent marine mammals transitioned from land-dwelling creatures to ocean rulers through three distinct and rapid ...

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." ...

In the process he has shown that whales, once celebrated by creationists as the best evidence against evolution, may be evolution's most elegant proof. "Complete specimens like that Basilosaurus ...

A mysterious whale that has puzzled scientists for decades may not be an anomaly, but a clue to what climate change is doing ...

One of the first cetaceans, Pakicetus, was a goat-sized creature that lived along the banks of lakes and rivers in present-day Pakistan. Although it looked nothing like a whale, Pakicetus displayed ...

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 ...

“It has really intriguing implications for our understanding of the evolution of whales. There may be this whole chapter of the whale evolution story that happened in South America and elsewhere ...

A new orca whale calf spotted in Puget Sound in Washington State is the latest addition to a well-known family of killer ...

Follow their extraordinary journey from shore to sea. Although whales are expert swimmers and perfectly adapted to life underwater, these marine mammals once walked on four legs. Their land-dwelling ...