None of these animals is necessarily a direct ancestor of the whales ... "In one sense, evolution didn't invent anything new with whales. It was just tinkering with land mammals.

Analyzing the anatomy of early fossil cetaceans in the context of modern mammals to understand the evolution of cetaceans from terrestrial ancestors. <p>The evolution of modern cetaceans (including ...

The common ancestor of whales and of all other land ... realizing what this meant for the evolution of whales—it was overwhelming," she remembers. Though unable to support a Basilosaurus's ...

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, ...

It was during this time that Otodus obliquus, the ancestor to megalodon (Otodus megalodon), appeared. O. megalodon is one of the biggest sharks ever to have lived. At between 15 to 18 metres in length ...

Rorquals swim large distances, which has made uncovering their evolution difficult for many ... Later (30–34 million years ...

Tagging and monitoring whales can reveal their extensive migration routes, but not how far—or whether—their ancestors roamed ... as well as on the evolution of the oceans.

Dr Sam Ellis, from the University of Exeter, who led the research, said in some whale species evolution had selected ... to that of our closest primate relatives but have a much longer total ...