Just before Valentine's Day I was invited by my colleague Dr. Win McLaughlin to fly up to Coos Bay, Oregon, for a few days to give a talk in the Geology Lecture series at Southwestern Oregon Community College. I flew up for a few days (and will have a followup post about the trip in general) and gave my first lecture in a while - and, my first time on this particular topic. I wanted to focus on fossils from the Oregon coast, and ended up incorporating some fossils from Washington as well. If I had my 'druthers I would have been able to discuss simocetid dolphins for longer, but that could have dragged on for another half hour - so I kept my discussion of 'toothed whales' short and sweet, and focused on the teeth to baleen transition within Mysticeti, chiefly focusing on the tooth-and-baleen bearing Aetiocetus weltoni as well as the baleen-bearing eomysticetid whales Maiabalaena and Sitsqwayk.
Watch the entire talk here on youtube here:
I had a blast exploring the Oregon coast for a couple of days, and the talk was received well - thanks to Dr. Win for the invitation! I hope to make it back up there again soon. Here are some sneak previews of the lecture:
The skull of Aetiocetus weltoni and the clearly preserved, but admittedly small, lateral palatal foramina.
Similarity in morphology of the lateral palatal foramina in Aetiocetus weltoni and a modern fin whale (Balaenoptera physalus).
Simplified hypothesis for the stepwise transformation from teeth to baleen in mysticete evolution.
A sampling of Oligocene fossil mysticetes and odontocetes and their place in the transition between Eocene archaeocetes and modern whales and dolphins.
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