The researchers described fossils unearthed in Oregon of a whale named Maiabalaena nesbittae that lived 33 million years ago. They possessed neither teeth nor baleen, the material that modern filter-feeding whales use to strain large amounts of tiny prey out of the water for food. They were named Maiabalaena, meaning 'mother whale,' a surprising intermediate evolutionary stage between modern baleen whales and their toothed ancestors. The evolutionary steps that led to modern baleen filter-feeding giants like the blue whale, Earth's largest-known animal past or present, had remained unclear. One leading hypothesis had been that in the early stages of baleen whales' evolution they possessed both teeth and baleen before later becoming toothless.

Source: Daily Mail November 29, 2018 22:32 UTC