Ancient whale ate mud

Well, not exactly. Mammalodon, who vaguely resembles a manatee and lived at least 25 million years ago, 

fed by sucking small animals out of the seafloor mud with its short snout and tongue, 

mudwhale.jpg

experts say.

Researchers say the 25 million-year-old fossil is related to today’s blue whales – the largest animals on Earth.

The ancient animal’s mud slurping may have been a precursor to the filter feeding seen in modern baleen whales.

These whales strain huge quantities of tiny marine animals through specialised “combs” which take the place of teeth.

The research is published in the Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. 


You can read the full article here.

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