Alfred the aetiocetid had teeth but needed a better way to capture his tiny prey. Credit: Carl Buell Baleen whales, such as the gigantic 30m-long blue whale, are the largest animals that have ever ...

All Mediterranean sperm whales were thought to be part of one cultural group, identifiable by a unique pattern of clicks, or ...

WELLINGTON, New Zealand - Long before whales were majestic, gentle giants, some of their prehistoric ancestors were tiny, weird and feral. A chance discovery of a 25 million-year-old fossil on an ...

Call it an unfinished story, but with a plot that's a grabber. It's the tale of an ancient land mammal making its way back to the sea, becoming the forerunner of today's whales. In doing so, it lost ...

In 1919, whalers pulled up a 27-ton humpback whale and saw something that should not have been there: two unmistakable legs.

Scientists have found that sperm whales in the eastern Mediterranean have developed a faster, distinct vocal dialect compared ...

Long before whales were majestic, gentle giants, some of their prehistoric ancestors were tiny, weird and feral. A chance discovery of a 25 million-year-old fossil on an Australian beach has allowed ...

Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights. I write about biodiversity and the hidden quirks of the natural world. Fossil records make one evolutionary pattern especially ...

A sperm whale group in the Mediterranean (including one albino individual). (Asociación Tursiops) In the sparkling blue ...

About 25 million years ago, the warm, shallow seas off the southern coast of Australia were home to a bountiful scene of ocean-dwelling creatures. “In these seas, there was this extraordinary ...

Australia is home to a unique bunch of native land mammals, such as koalas, wombats and wallabies. These furballs evolved in isolation on this island continent and have become Australian symbols. But ...

BELOIT — Nick Pyenson, a top expert on whale evolution, has been selected as the 2026 recipient of The Roy Chapman Andrews Society (RCAS) Distinguished Explorer Award. Pyenson will be presented with ...