{"id":24250,"date":"2023-01-27T13:57:31","date_gmt":"2023-01-27T12:57:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.discoverwildlife.com\/?p=73699"},"modified":"2023-01-27T14:37:09","modified_gmt":"2023-01-27T13:37:09","slug":"how-did-whales-get-to-be-so-big","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/rss_feed\/how-did-whales-get-to-be-so-big\/","title":{"rendered":"How did whales get to be so big?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Just how did whales get so big? We take a look at the evidence <\/p>

By BBC Wildlife Magazine\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Friday, 27 January 2023 at 12:00 am<\/p>

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Scientists believed that it was the evolution<\/a><\/strong> of baleen filter feeding that allowed the whales to grow to gigantic sizes, but\u00a0Llanocetus\u00a0<\/em>challenged this view.<\/p>\n

What was Llanocetus?<\/em><\/h2>\n

Llanocetus\u00a0was an Antarctic prehistoric whale, which was much larger compared to other whales alive at the time. It swam the oceans at the size of a modern Minke whale,<\/a> about 8 metres. Meanwhile\u00a0Mystacodon, the oldest toothed mysticete, was only about 4 metres long, and had teeth.<\/p>\n

How big (or small) could animals get?<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

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Scientists believed that\u00a0Llanocetus\u00a0was one of the earliest whales to evolve baleen, allowing it to grow much larger than its contemporaries. However, recent research has revealed that\u00a0Llanocetus\u00a0had teeth just like\u00a0Mystacodon.<\/p>\n

What had previously been interpreted in fossils as evidence that the whale had baleen, was actually found to be evidence of a blood supply, indicating well developed gums and the presence of teeth.<\/p>\n

This discovery indicated to scientists that gigantism evolved in whales before filter feeding. Instead,\u00a0Llanocetus\u00a0was a suction feeder, just like\u00a0Mystacodon, and it\u2019s likely that baleen structures evolved after an initial phase of suction feeding in gigantic early mammals.<\/p>\n

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