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." ...

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 ...

These fossils represent one of the major stories of evolution: the emergence of the whale as an ocean-going mammal from a previous life as a land-based animal. This is the most important site in the ...

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, ...

The behaviours of whales have endeared them to us like few other species on Earth. Long-term research into the way they learn, hunt and socialise shows they may have more in common with us than ...

Understanding human evolution through the study of whale evolution Brief definition and history of mammals How did land-based mammals return to the sea? Fossils from "transitional species" trace ...

A reconstruction of the fossil whale Kutchicetus, which lived about 45 million years ago in India, is behind him. Disclaimer: AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news ...

This new research shows that—despite being separated by 90 million years of evolution—whales and humans show remarkably similar life histories, which have evolved independently. The study was ...

The megalodon has long been imagined as an enormous great white shark, but new research suggests that perception is all wrong. The study finds the prehistoric hunter had a much longer body -- closer ...

Professor Darren Croft, of the University of Exeter and executive director at the Centre for Whale Research, said: “The ...

New research reignites debate over the size of this extinct giant, also suggesting it looked unlike a great white ...