Baleen whales are gigantic obligate filter feeders that exploit aggregations of small-bodied
prey in littoral, epipelagic, and mesopelagic ecosystems. At the extreme of maximum body …

Fin whales are among the largest predators on earth, yet little is known about their foraging
behavior at depth. These whales obtain their prey by lunge-feeding, an extraordinary …

The origin of baleen in mysticete whales represents a major transition in the phylogenetic
history of Cetacea. This key specialization, a keratinous sieve that enables filter-feeding …

Cetaceans are atypical mammals whose tongues often depart from the typical (basal)
mammalian condition in structure, mobility, and function. Their tongues are dynamic …

Fin whales Balaenoptera physalus exhibit one of the most extreme feeding methods among
aquatic vertebrates. Fin whales, and other rorquals (Balaenopteridae), lunge with their …

Mammalodon colliveri is an unusual toothed archaic mysticete (Cetacea) from the Upper
Oligocene Jan Juc Formation of south-east Australia. The morphology of the holotype skull …

Bulk-filter feeding is an energetically efficient strategy for resource acquisition and
assimilation, and facilitates the maintenance of extreme body size as exemplified by baleen …

Archaic toothed mysticetes represent the evolutionary transition from raptorial to bulk filter
feeding in baleen whales. Aetiocetids, in particular, preserve an intermediate morphological …

Foraging methods vary considerably among semiaquatic and fully aquatic mammals.
Semiaquatic animals often find food in water yet consume it on land, but as truly obligate …

The origin of baleen, the key adaptation of modern whales (Mysticeti), marks a profound yet
poorly understood transition in vertebrate evolution, triggering the rise of the largest animals …