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Way Back When Sperm Whales Were Able to Chew Their Food.

lauricedeephd writes "Sperm whales lack teeth on their upper jaws and so have no way of biting into prey. Instead, they ingest and swallow prey, most often squid, by suction.

A new study reports that a sperm whale that lived 12 million years ago, in the Miocene Epoch, did have upper and lower teeth. It apparently used its teeth to eat other smaller whales, the study reports, digging in deep and ripping off large chunks of flesh.

The scientists discovered a fossilized skull and jaw of the whale in the deserts of Peru. They reported their findings in the journal Nature. The whale may have feasted on medium-size baleen whales, said Olivier Lambert, a paleontologist at the Natural History Museum in Paris and the study’s lead author.

Its preying tactics most closely resembles today’s powerful killer whale, which also bites deeply into prey, he said. But this whale was much larger than the killer whale, growing to be about 60 feet long based on guesses made from the skull size, about the same as a modern sperm whale. Killer whales are only about half this size.

Earlier research suggested that sperm whales that relied on sucking to capture prey also existed during the Miocene Epoch. “What we observe is that the biting sperm whales became extinct, while the suction feeders survive until the present,” Dr. Lambert said.

Note:
Please do click the following link to see the photo of the various teeth (from a prehistoric sperm whale, a modern sperm whale, and a killer whale):

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/"

Posted on Wednesday, 14 July 2010 @ 21:25:28 MST by dolfin

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