An ancient dwarf whale sucks up prey-filled mud from the seafloor in an artist's reconstruction. Picture courtesy Carl Buell
Posted on 12/23/2009 7:28:17 PM PST by SunkenCiv
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 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... 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. Dubbed Mammalodon colliver, the dwarf whale was discovered in 1932 near the seaside town of Torquay, southwest of Melbourne... Until now the fossils had remained relatively unstudied.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.nationalgeographic.com ...
An ancient dwarf whale sucks up prey-filled mud from the seafloor in an artist's reconstruction. Picture courtesy Carl Buell
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Is this “settled science” or is someone pulling in big grant money from Uncle Sam to reach this conclusion?
(Just being rhetorical.)
Isn’t this a recapitulation of how the first fish made a living? I.e. they were jawless bottom-feeders? And aren’t Demonrats another rehash of the same thing? I.e. they have proceeded from being parasites to being carnivores “eating out the substance” of productive citizens.
Yup, she’s blubbery and a mud-sucker, all right.
Dwarf Sperm Whale Skul
Is that anything like the Kenyan Dwarf Mud Sucker? .
Cheers!
Merry Christamas g_w!
Every kid learns not to really eat a mudpie.
...sure, the hard way. ;’)
Sounds like the research was done in Australia. Doubt it was paid for by "Uncle Sam." In any case, reaching into a museum specimen drawer, pulling out fossils that have been sitting in there for decades, and taking a closer look, isn't likely to require "big" grant money.
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