Blue whales' huge size 'due to binge-eating through climate change'
The blue whale dwarfs its ancestors and it seems seasonal feeding is the reason.
Blue whales and other filter-feeding leviathans became giants when climate change introduced them to binge-eating, research has shown.
At more than 100ft long, the blue whale is the largest vertebrate animal that has ever lived.
It also dwarfs its ancestors. Scientists have discovered that whales with bodies longer than 10 metres (33ft) only made an appearance roughly 4.5 million years ago.
At the same time, smaller species of whale began to vanish, suggesting that large size was suddenly an important advantage.
The reason for the size expansion of the blue whale and other baleen whales was food, the researchers believe.
All baleen whales have a filter system in their mouth that sifts out tiny shrimp-like sea creatures known as krill.
