News Paleontology

New fossil suggests echolocation evolved early in whales

Intricate 27-million-year-old inner ear bones show features of high-frequency hearing

Echovenator sandersi

CAN YOU HEAR ME NOW?  The skull of an ancient whale unearthed in South Carolina adds to evidence that the ancestors of modern toothed whales, such as orcas and dolphins, had high-frequency hearing.

M. Churchill et al/Current Biology 2016

By Helen Thompson

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