Breakthrough Study: Points to Reasons for Whale Gigantism

[Sea Save Foundation]

Scientists hypothesize why baleen whales (ie blue and humpback whales) evolved to such a large size. They published in "The Proceedings of the Royal Society" that 4.5 million years ago, a climatic change necessitated binge-eating behavior. Using a phylogenetic macroevolutionary model, they incorporated data that lead them to speculate that size increase via Brownian movement and made this eating behavior more efficient.

Read more here (number 5)

 

[Brandon Denney]

This is fascinating, thanks for the post!