How Whale Evolution Kind Of Sucked

Mystacodon is the earliest known mysticete, the group that, today, we call the baleen whales. But if this was a baleen whale, where was its baleen? Where did baleen come from? And how did it live without it?
Thanks to Fabrizio de Rossi ( / artoffabricious ) for the incredible Mystacodon reconstructions!
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References:
docs.google.com/document/d/1l...