Just six weeks to go until the opening of Whales: Giants of the Deep, a new exhibition devoted to the biology, anatomy, and evolution of whales—as well as their cultural significance to maritime human cultures, from New Zealand to New Bedford, Massachusetts. 

A small, furry-tailed, insect-eating creature was the earliest ancestor of placental mammals—a widely diverse group of animals ranging from bats to humans—according to a new study in the journal Science by a team of international scientists, including a core group of Museum researchers. 

Opening Saturday, March 23, a special exhibition, Whales: Giants of the Deep, will bring Museum visitors closer than ever to some of the mightiest, most massive, and mysterious mammals on Earth.

A team of researchers has published the first range-wide genetic analysis of the bowhead whale—a baleen whale that lives in Arctic and sub-Arctic waters—using hundreds of samples from both modern populations and archaeological sites used by indigenous hunters thousands of years ago. 

Contradictory explanations for the evolution of nectar-drinking in a diverse group of bats have long puzzled scientists, but new research led by the American Museum of Natural History and Stony Brook University provides a clear answer.

The conflicting explanations come from two different types of data. Genetic data suggest that nectar feeding evolved twice in New World leaf-nosed bats whereas earlier analyses of the bats’ anatomy point to a single origin of nectar feeding. These bats are found in Central and South America and, uniquely among bats, eat nectar, fruit, frogs, lizards, and blood.