A recent research revealed a remarkable story of whale evolution—how these magnificent marine mammals transitioned from land-dwelling creatures to ocean rulers through three distinct and rapid ...

This story appears in the August 2010 issue of National Geographic magazine. Thirty-seven million years ago, in the waters of the prehistoric Tethys Ocean, a sinuous, 50-foot-long beast with ...

Early ancestors of the ocean's biggest animals once walked on land. Follow their extraordinary journey from shore to sea. Although whales are expert swimmers and perfectly adapted to life underwater, ...

Call it an unfinished story, but with a plot that's a grabber. It's the tale of an ancient land mammal making its way back to the sea, becoming the forerunner of today's whales. In doing so, it ...

The order Cetacea includes marine mammals, such as whales, dolphins, and porpoises. Fossil evidence suggests that the cetaceans share a common ancestor with land-dwelling mammals that began living ...

The study highlights that about 20% of the genetic makeup of southwestern Australian killer whales can be traced back to Antarctic ancestors, with gene flow occurring both historically and ...