平成２８年１月２８日（木）、５時限から７時限にかけてサイエンスダイアログを行いました。

３年生が、Origin of the largest animal, the blue whale, on Earth! （地球史上最大の動物「シロナガスクジラ」の起源）と題した講義を受けました。

講師は、国立科学博物館 地学研究部 日本学術振興会特別研究員のTsai, Cheng-Hsiu 先生。

専門用語ばかりの英語での講義は大変そうでしたが、生徒たちはしっかりと学習をしていました。

講義の要旨は、以下の通りです。

Paleontology, the study of fossils, is a classical and old-fashion subject, and it provides the direct evidence of what happened in the past and how life has been and is being evolving. The blue whale, Balaenoptera musculus, could be more than 30 m long. Thus, as far as we know, the blue whale is the largest animal in the history of life on Earth. It is fascinating to consider the origin of such a huge animal. Our understanding of how whales evolved into the aquatic environment from land and some of them (especially baleen whales, Mysticeti ヒゲクジラ) became colossal remains meagre. Here, I will present the recent progress of how much we learnt about the origin and evolution of whales, mainly on baleen whales that include the largest species, the blue whale. Besides, whales are swimming in the sea so that there is no boundary for them to travel around the world. As a result, whales and their fossils are discovered all over the world, which, in turn, gives us a view from a global perspective. In this talk, I will also discuss whale fossils from everywhere in the world and then talk about how whale fossils from Japan are important for us to understand the whale evolution.