Museum Victoria palaeobiologist Dr. Erich Fitzgerald has made revolutionary discoveries on the origin of baleen whales, based on fossils 25 million years, near Torquay in Victoria.

Study, Dr. Fitzgerald, published in the Journal of Zoology of the Linnean Society, focuses on Mammalodon colliveri, early baleen whale teeth, one of a group of whales that includes the largest animal that ever lived , the blue whale. Although Mammalodon was discovered in 1932 and named in 1939, has remained relatively unknown until now.“By studying Mammalodon, I assumed that it was a mud bottom feeding sucker may have used their language and short, blunt snout to suck small prey of sand and mud in the seabed. This indicates the early experimentation and variety in the evolution of whales, “said Dr. Fitzgerald.

Research by Dr. Fitzgerald supports the speculation of Charles Darwin in The Origin of Species, that some of the earliest baleen whales may have been suction feeders, removing mud and serves as a precursor of filter feeding Today the giants of the deep.

Although Mammalodon had a total body length of about 3 meters, was an early release of foreign lineage leading to the blue whale, 30 feet long. New research shows that Mammalodon is a dwarf, having evolved in a relatively small number of great ancestors.

Mammalodon belongs to the same family as Janjucetus hunderi, fossils of which were also found in 25 million years of Oligocene rocks near Torquay in Victoria. This family is unique in southeastern Australia, their fossils are found only in Victoria. “Clearly, the seas south of Australia were the cradle of the evolution of a variety of small, strange whales appear to have lived somewhere else,” said Dr. Fitzgerald.

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