Answer:
Modern whales evolved by natural selection over long time periods through descent from common ancestors
Step-by-step explanation:
According to the evolutionary theory proposed by Darwin, natural selection is a biological process by which organisms adapt and change in response to their environment. In this case, ancient whales that were better suited to environmental conditions survived and produced more offspring than non-adapted individuals. In consequence, predominant adaptive traits observed in modern whales were favored by natural selection in the past, while unsuccessful phenotypes progressively disappeared.