Since Herman Melville penned his novel Moby Dick more than 150 years ago, scientists have been fascinated by the remarkable attributes of the sperm whale and its kin - the smaller pygmy and dwarf ...

From playful dolphins to huge sperm whales, all modern toothed whales rely on echoes of their own calls to navigate the ocean and hunt underwater. Now researchers have discovered the whales’ ability ...

A new ancient miniature whale species has been identified by researchers. An international team of scientists made the “ground-breaking” discovery of a new species of extinct whale, Tutcetus ...

A biologist explains the surprising evolutionary math behind how the blue whale became the largest animal that has ever lived ...

Discover the ancient whale, Maiacetus inuus, a vital piece in the puzzle of whale evolution and its transition from land to sea. Nine years ago, a team of fossil-hunters led by Philip Gingerich from ...

Wadi El-Hitan in Egypt’s Western Desert contains hundreds of fossilized whale skeletons dating back around 37 million years.

Right whales were the first whale to be commercially hunted, 1,000 years ago. They were so named because they were the "right" whale to kill; their blubber made their carcasses float for easy recovery ...

Long before whales were majestic, gentle giants, some of their prehistoric ancestors were tiny, weird and feral. A chance discovery of a 25 million-year-old fossil on an Australian beach has allowed ...

A jawbone fragment overlooked for more than 100 years was once part of a nine-metre-long ancient whale. While the fossil hasn’t been described as a new species, it suggests that the huge size of ...

This ancient whale species may hold the key to understanding how whales transitioned from land-based animals to marine animals. Long before the Ancient Egyptians walked the Earth and the great ...

Who would go off to try and catch a fish if a sushi buffet had been laid on? Not me. Nor killer whales, according to new research that vividly illustrates the allure for these animals of the easy ...