The baleen whales began developing the long keratin sheets that enable filter feeding. That carried on until about 23 million years ago, when their rate of skull evolution slowed to a crawl. The ...

On 4 July, the spade-toothed whale (Mesoplodon traversii), which ... says a lot about the evolution of this species. “It's remarkable to see this and it's something else we had no idea about”.

Their work revealed, for the first time, that spade-toothed whales have tiny vestigial teeth in their upper jaw. Vestigial structures like this are considered remnants of evolution, demonstrating ...

But on Monday a small group of scientists and cultural experts in New Zealand clustered around a near-perfectly preserved spade-toothed whale hoping to decode decades of mystery.

In July 2024, scientists in Otago, New Zealand, made a stunning discovery: an elusive spade-toothed beaked whale had washed up on the shore. The whale had never been seen in the wild, and finding a ...

Delphinidae is the family that includes all oceanic dolphin species. Orcas, also known as killer whales, are the largest dolphins and some of the world’s most powerful predators. All dolphins are ...

It was the first complete specimen ever recorded. There have only been seven known sightings and never of a living spade-toothed whale. New Zealand conservation agency beaked whale expert Anton ...

The first spade-toothed whale bones were found in 1872 on New Zealand's Pitt Island. Another discovery was made at an offshore island in the 1950s, and the bones of a third were found on Chile's ...

Killer whales (also called orcas) are apex predators, meaning they are at the top of their food chain. They feed on fish and squid like other odontocetes (toothed whales) do, but will also target ...