Baleen plates provide new insight on life history of blue and fin whales

Researchers have recently released a study in Ecology and Evolution outlining their in-depth analysis of historic baleen plates, the comb structures that are used by some species of whales to filter food, from Southern Hemisphere blue and fin whales. The research was conducted using samples collected in the late 1940s that were recently rediscovered in the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History.