Beatty, B. and Dooley, A. 2009. Injuries in a Mysticete Skeleton from the Miocene of Virginia, With a Discussion of Buoyancy and the Primitive Feeding Mode in the Chaeomysticeti. Jeffersonia, 20. (PDF)

A mostly complete skeleton of a mysticete from the Carmel Church Quarry displays some injuries, including a fractured and partially-healed left mandible, previously not reported in any fossil mysticete. The mostly healed nature of this non-union impaction fracture indicates that the animal died a significant amount of time after the injury. Additional injuries of the postglenoid process and left premaxilla, as well as the nature of the impaction fracture in the mandible suggest that the cause of this was some impact from the left anterior aspect. Possible scenarios for how this injury could have happened include intraspecific aggression and, more likely, impact with the seafloor during benthic feeding. The ribs of this individual are heavily osteosclerotic from dorsal to ventral ends, which would suggest that this taxon was a benthic feeder. In comparison with a sample of ribs from fossil mysticetes, it appears that Diorocetus may have been one of the last mysticetes with rib osteosclerosis, a feature possibly primitive to Mysticeti. Although this remains speculative, the presence of osteosclerotic ribs
in primitive mysticetes suggests that the feeding mode employed by the earliest Chaeomysticeti was one of benthic feeding.

I like papers where they infer behavior from the actual skeleton. And I like fossil whales. This paper is a two for the price of one. And if you didn't catch the hint from the beginning of my post, the price of this paper is *FREE*.

For a more astute discussion of this new paper, the primary author Brian Beatty has posted about this new paper on his blog, see The Aquatic Amniote. Alternatively, you can check out a popular press article here- Fossil whale offers clues on feeding, handedness (The Virginian-Pilot).
This new specimen of Diorocetus is mostly complete but lacks the fore limbs and the tail (too bad). Beatty's blog features some images not featured in the original paper, such as a photograph of the entire skull and a life reconstruction. I don't read too many mammal papers, but I enjoyed this one. This paper changed the way I saw filter feeding in whales, and led me to look up a few other papers on the subject.

It's worth your time to take a look at this.

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