Whales teeth

Baleen Whale with Teeth (just)

Whales started out as "something like a bear" to quote Darwin. This article describes a fossil where teeth are on the cusp (sorry!) of being replaced by fibrous plates called baleen for filter feeding. It also may have had small vestigial hind legs. The fossil was found in southern Peru and further finds are expected to clarify the transition.

TOOTHED MYSTICETE Mystacodon was a small- to medium-sized whale, a precursor to today’s humpback and blue whales. The skeleton of Mystacodon gives new clues to how this whale lineage first began to split off from other whales.