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When did baleen whales become large? New blog post - The Coastal Paleontologist
Boesse posted a topic in General Fossil Discussion
Hey all, I realize I've been incommunicado quite a bit this year - it's been a bad one. Things got real bad at the office and both my wife and I resigned from our department and we've been working for a new nonprofit in Charleston. But, I AM alive and returning to active status here on TFF now that 1) the forum has been upgraded and is functioning and 2) I've had some breathing room and time to unwind after leaving a deeply toxic work environment. I've also made a conscious effort to get back into blogging more frequently and have written/posted quite a lot in 2023. My most recent post summarizes a bit of an interesting and ongoing debate in whaleontology: when exactly did baleen whales become gigantic? Anyone who has spent any time in the Pliocene of the Carolinas or Florida knows that baleen whale fossils that are only a few million years old are nowhere near as large as the gigantic skeletons of modern whales hanging in museums. So, what gives? I've written a blog post that goes into a fair amount of detail regarding competing ideas for the evolution of body size in baleen whales - shown above is skull width of archaeocetes, odontocetes (toothed whales) and mysticetes (baleen whales) through time. Read the whole thing here - please enjoy! And don't hesitate to ask questions, here or on the blog. https://coastalpaleo.blogspot.com/2023/12/obscure-controversies-in-cenozoic.html -
And so I return with another question about a particular, probably cetacean, bone. In my last adventure, we ascertained that a piece of bone, with cylindrical resemblances, was from a rib. With how little curve it had along it's length, I suspect it was from a large creature. I also have another interestingly shaped/textured bone fossil from the same general, Miocene, area in Bakersfield. As you can see, the glued specimen is a bit over 150mm in length, and sits about 70mm wide(tall?). One side is very flat along the length of the piece. Since it has what appear to be termination points, I figure that a general ID for body position might be possible. This is where I again go to thinking a possible jaw part. Like perhaps the rear portion of a mysticete lower jaw? I know, there I go again. As I said, the texture is not smooth like the rib I was given. It's got a lot of bumps and shallow crags around the curved portions. Thanks ahead of time for any input on possible ID. Cheers.
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Greetings, all. Recently a friend gave me a rather large chunk of fossil bone from the Shark Tooth Hill area of Bakersfield. While originally we thought it might be a rib bone, I now think that it being so straight for the length it is, as well as the larger radius, that it might be a piece of a jawbone. Perhaps a partial jaw of a Miocene baleen. Mysticete? Perhaps there's no way to tell? Any opinions are appreciated. Thanks ahead of time. Cheers.
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