DUNEDIN, New Zealand, Dec. 2 (UPI) — A small fossilized whale skeleton recovered from the Olympic Peninsula in Washington State has revealed a new species of baleen whale that lived in the North Pacific Ocean 30 to 33 million years ago.
A team of scientists, led by researchers at the University of Otago in New Zealand, described the new species, Fucaia buelli, in a paper published this week in the journal Royal Society Open Science.
The new species is one of the smallest and oldest baleen whales ever found, and is quite distinct from its modern relatives.
Today’s baleen whales filter krill with comb-like baleen hairs. The newly named species chewed its food with fully developed teeth. The discovery is helping scientists pinpoint when and where baleen whales ditched their teeth.
Researchers think Fucaia buelli was an active hunter and likely employed a feeding technique similar to dolphins — some light chewing followed by a suction-like swallow.
“Suction feeding likely enabled early whales to move from a tooth-based feeding style to filter-feeding, by allowing them to capture smaller prey items than teeth alone could handle,” study co-author Felix Marx explained in a press release.
Suction or vacuum feeding is still employed by gray whales.
“This behavior may have prompted the evolution of baleen from the enlarged gums, possibly as a more efficient way to expel the water sucked in with the food,” added co-author Ewan Fordyce. “As the prey became smaller, teeth became increasingly obsolete and, ultimately, were lost completely in modern baleen whales.”
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