By CAROLYN BARRY - NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC NEWS
Added: Fri, 25 Dec 2009 00:00:00 UTC

Thanks to Fuzzy Duck for the link.
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/12/091223-whale-dwarf-australia-sucker-fossil.html

An ancient dwarf whale unearthed in southeastern Australia captured its prey by slurping up mouthfuls of mud, a new study says.

The fossil whale, thought to be between 25 and 28 million years old, hints that mud sucking might have been a precursor to the filter feeding used by today's baleen whales.

Many modern whale species use hair-like structures called baleen to filter tiny prey such as krill from seawater. Baleen species include the humpback, the minke, and the largest animal ever to have lived on Earth, the blue whale.

The newfound fossil whale, which measures just nine feet (three meters) long, shares the same distinct jaw and skull structures as today's baleens.

But the tiny whale also had teeth, said study author Erich Fitzgerald, a paleontologist at Museum Victoria in Melbourne, Australia.

The odd combination suggests that the dwarf whale might have been adept at feeding on larger, chewier prey from the seafloor, using its tongue and facial muscles to "vacuum" along the sandy bottom, the study authors say.
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http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/12/091223-whale-dwarf-australia-sucker-fossil.html

TAGGED: BIOLOGY, EVOLUTION, PALEONTOLOGY