Further along this evolutionary journey we find Dorudon, which lived 40 to 33 million years ago. This five-metre-long animal had proper flippers and tiny hind legs. It lived entirely in the water and was a good swimmer. It also gave birth to its young underwater.
- 1 How did the Dorudon swim?
- 2 How did the Basilosaurus swim?
- 3 What features did the Dorudon have?
- 4 How did the Rodhocetus swim?
- 5 Did whales used to have feet?
- 6 How did the Dorudon move?
- 7 How did Basilosaurus and Dorudon move?
- 8 Is Dorudon a transitional fossil?
- 9 What kind of animal was Dorudon?
- 10 Did the Basilosaurus have legs?
- 11 What did killer whales evolve from?
- 12 Does Pakicetus have tail flukes?
- 13 What did Basilosaurus look like?
- 14 Did the Ambulocetus have fur?
- 15 What did the Pakicetus look like?
- 16 Did Basilosaurus have a blowhole?
- 17 Why did Basilosaurus go extinct?
- 18 Did whales have hands and feet?
- 19 Is the Basilosaurus still alive?
- 20 Did dolphins walk on land?
- 21 Did snakes used to have legs?
- 22 When did the Mysticetes live?
- 23 What did the Rodhocetus look like?
- 24 When did the Kutchicetus live?
- 25 Where was Dorudon found?
- 26 When was the Dorudon discovered?
- 27 Are Dorudon carnivores?
- 28 What is a toothed whale called?
- 29 What vestigial limbs are found on Basilosaurus?
- 30 Can Rodhocetus walk?
- 31 What did the Dorudon eat?
- 32 Did orcas hunt Megalodon?
- 33 Did hippos evolve whales?
- 34 Did dolphins evolve from wolves?
- 35 Did land mammals evolve dolphins?
- 36 Are hippos related to dolphins?
- 37 Did lands evolve mammals?
- 38 How long ago did the Ambulocetus live?
- 39 How old is Rodhocetus?
- 40 What did Ambulocetus have that connects it to primitive whales?
- 41 How did whales lose their legs?
- 42 How did scientists know that Pakicetus was related to whales?
- 43 What kind of animal was Pakicetus?
- 44 Do blue whales have tail flukes?
- 45 Why are blue whales so big?
- 46 How are whales different from fish?
- 47 Where did the Zygorhiza live?
- 48 What did the Zygorhiza eat?
- 49 What new adaptations did Basilosaurus possess?
- 50 Do dolphins have gills?
- 51 Do dolphins have hooves?
- 52 Did hippos evolve dolphins?
- 53 Did whales used to have feet?
- 54 Do whales have gills?
How did the Dorudon swim?
The shape of the vertebrae at the end of its tail is similar to that of modern cetaceans, suggesting that Dorudon would have had tail flukes and used them to move through the ocean.
How did the Basilosaurus swim?
By 40 million years ago, Basilosaurus — clearly an animal fully adapted to an aquatic environment — was swimming the ancient seas, propelled by its sturdy flippers and long, flexible body.
What features did the Dorudon have?
Dorudon was a small whale. Related to the apex predator Basilosaurus, they shared many similar physical traits. It had a relatively large skull with a pair of jaws lined with sharp teeth used to grip onto prey. It also had small hind limbs used to help males and females lock onto each other during copulation.
How did the Rodhocetus swim?
From this Gingerich concluded that Rodhocetus was swimming mostly at the surface by alternate strokes of its hind feet, and that it was insulated by fur rather than blubber, as are Dorudon and modern cetaceans, which made it buoyant and incapable of deep diving.
Did whales used to have feet?
Scientists have found the first direct fossil evidence that whales once had hind legs and feet and retained smaller but functional versions of them for more than 10 million years after they left the land for a life at sea.
How did the Dorudon move?
Unlike other early whales which moved much like an eel, Dorudon relied on moving its tail, or fluke, up and down to propel it through the water, much like how today’s dolphins swim. This new way of motion meant the hind limbs were essentially useless.
How did Basilosaurus and Dorudon move?
Basilosaurus probably swam predominantly in two dimensions at the sea surface, in contrast to the smaller Dorudon, which was likely a diving, three-dimensional swimmer. The skeletal anatomy of the tail suggests that a small fluke was probably present, which would have aided only vertical motion.
Is Dorudon a transitional fossil?
Dorudon. For the final example of a transitional fossil, consider the early whale Dorudon atrox. This whale lived about 40 million years ago and shares many features with modern whales, but it also has several unusual features not seen in modern whales.
What kind of animal was Dorudon?
Dorudon (“spear-tooth”) is a genus of extinct basilosaurid ancient whales that lived alongside Basilosaurus 40.4 to 33.9 million years ago in the Eocene. They were about 5 m (16 ft) long and fed on small fish and mollusks.
Did the Basilosaurus have legs?
The foot is paraxonic, consistent with derivation from mesonychid Condylarthra. Hind limbs of Basilosaurus are interpreted as copulatory guides.
What did killer whales evolve from?
Orcas evolved from a small deer-like species that roamed the earth more than 50 million years ago. They are among the most formidable animals in the ocean — pack-hunting creatures that feed on everything from salmon to blue whales.
Does Pakicetus have tail flukes?
The first ‘whales’ was a small doglike creature about 1.7 meters long or 6 feet long that lived much of it’s life around streams named Pakicetus over 48 million years ago. This creature had no flukes on its tail, had very forward nostrils for shallow snorkeling and had limbs functioned for walking.
What did Basilosaurus look like?
Basilosaurus Had a Long, Eel-Like Body
Unusually for a prehistoric whale, Basilosaurus was sleek and eel-like, measuring up to 65 feet long from the tip of its head to the end of its tail fin but only weighing in the neighborhood of five to 10 tons.
Did the Ambulocetus have fur?
Ambulocetus Temporal range: Eocene (Lutetian), | |
---|---|
Family: | †Ambulocetidae |
Genus: | †Ambulocetus Thewissen et al., 1994 |
Species: | †A. natans |
Binomial name |
What did the Pakicetus look like?
What did the first whales look like? Pakicetus (pictured above) looked nothing like a whale, but it would have felt at home in the water. It lived on land, on the edge of lakes and riverbanks in what is now Pakistan and India. It hunted small land animals and freshwater fish, and could even hear underwater.
Did Basilosaurus have a blowhole?
It did not have a blow hole like modern whales and would come to the surface to breath by raising the tip of its nose out of the water. A tiny pair of legs and small toes gives evidence to the fact they were once land animals. This Primitive Eocene Whale was carnivorous and ate fish, sharks, and squid.
Why did Basilosaurus go extinct?
Basilosaurus was a specialized type of animal that did not give rise to any later whales. Abrupt global cooling of the Earth’s climate at the end of the Eocene coincided with changing ocean circulation. This led to the extinction of Basilosaurus and most archaic whales around 34 million years ago.
Did whales have hands and feet?
The ancient whale was roughly 13 feet long, and its hooves were located on the tips of its fingers and toes, the study says. The animal also likely had webbed appendages. Researchers described an animal that likely moved in the water similar to an otter, based on its bone structure in tail vertebrae, the study shows.
Is the Basilosaurus still alive?
Basilosaurus, also called Zeuglodon, extinct genus of primitive whales of the family Basilosauridae (suborder Archaeoceti) found in Middle and Late Eocene rocks in North America and northern Africa (the Eocene Epoch lasted from 55.8 million to 33.9 million years ago).
Did dolphins walk on land?
Fossil remains show dolphins and whales were four-footed land animals about 50 million years ago and share the same common ancestor as hippos and deer. Scientists believe they later transitioned to an aquatic lifestyle and their hind limbs disappeared.
Did snakes used to have legs?
Snakes used to wander the Earth on legs about 150 million years ago, before they shifted from strut to slither. Now, two scientists have pinpointed the genetic process that caused snakes to lose their legs.
When did the Mysticetes live?
The Mysticeti include the baleen whales and their extinct relatives. The fossil remains of L. denticrenatus have been dated to 34 million years ago. Only those of Mystacodon selenensis, which date to approximately 36 million years ago, are older in the mysticete lineage.
What did the Rodhocetus look like?
With its pointed snout, sharp teeth, short legs and robust tail, Rodhocetus may have looked something like a 10-foot-long crocodile with fur. According to Gingerich, it is the oldest whale ever found with the flexible back and heavily muscled tail needed for efficient swimming.
When did the Kutchicetus live?
Kutchicetus minimus, with its small, otterlike skeleton, lived between 43 and 46 million years ago. Like other early whales, Kutchicetus lived in tropical seas.
Where was Dorudon found?
Dorudon lived in warm seas around the world. Fossils have been found along the former shorelines of the Tethys Sea in present-day Egypt and Pakistan, as well as in the United States, New Zealand, and Western Sahara.
When was the Dorudon discovered?
Dorudon was discovered in 1906 by Charles William Andrews, who described Prozeuglodon atrox (=”Proto-Basilosaurus”) based on a nearly complete skull, a dentary, and three associated vertebrae presented to him by the Geological Museum of Cairo.
Are Dorudon carnivores?
They were carnivorous hunting smaller fish and molluscs. They had spear like teeth as their name suggests (Dorudon means spear toothed) and lived in warm seas around the world.
What is a toothed whale called?
The toothed whales (also called odontocetes, systematic name Odontoceti) are a parvorder of cetaceans that includes dolphins, porpoises, and all other whales possessing teeth, such as the beaked whales and sperm whales. Seventy-three species of toothed whales are described.
What vestigial limbs are found on Basilosaurus?
Unlike all modern cetaceans, Basilosaurus also retained external hindlimbs with a functional knee and toes. However, unlike earlier, more primitive whales, many of the joints in the ankle and foot are fused and others have limited mobility.
Can Rodhocetus walk?
Evolve the dog-like whale ancestor Pakicetus a few million years, and you’ll wind up with something like Rodhocetus: a larger, more streamlined, four-legged mammal that spent most of its time in the water rather than on land (though its splay-footed posture demonstrates that Rodhocetus was capable of walking, or at …
What did the Dorudon eat?
- Name: Dorudon (Greek for “spear-toothed”); pronounced DOOR-ooh-don.
- Historical Epoch: Late Eocene (41-33 million years ago)
- Size and Weight: About 16 feet long and half a ton.
- Diet: Fish and mollusks.
- Distinguishing Characteristics:
Did orcas hunt Megalodon?
Megalodons were wiped out when killer whales invaded: Competition for food drove 60ft sharks to extinction 2 million years ago. Jaws may have terrified you at the cinema, but the iconic great white would have been dwarfed by Carcharocles megalodon, the largest shark in the history of the planet.
Did hippos evolve whales?
Hippos are the closest living relatives of whales, but they are not the ancestors of whales. Both hippos and whales evolved from four-legged, even-toed, hoofed (ungulate) ancestors that lived on land about 50 million years ago. Modern-day ungulates include hippopotamus, giraffe, deer, pig and cow.
Did dolphins evolve from wolves?
The early dolphins were smaller and believed to have consumed small fish as well as various organisms in the water. The older theory is that the evolution was of whales, and they came from ancestors of hoofed land animals that were very similar to wolves and even-toed ungulates.
Did land mammals evolve dolphins?
Dolphins, rather surprisingly, are mammals that evolved from animals that used to live on the land; in other words they went back to live in the sea. Scientists believe that dolphins evolved from a hoofed, land-living mammal called ‘Mesonyx’, and returned to live in the seas some fifty million years ago.
Despite their physical resemblance to pigs and other terrestrial even-toed ungulates, the closest living relatives of the Hippopotamidae are cetaceans (whales, dolphins, porpoises, etc.), from which they diverged about 55 million years ago.
Did lands evolve mammals?
But, because they are mammals, we know that they must have evolved from land-dwelling ancestors. About 375 million years ago, the first tetrapods—vertebrates with arms and legs—pushed themselves out of the swamps and began to live on land.
How long ago did the Ambulocetus live?
Ambulocetus dates from the early Eocene epoch, about 50 million years ago, when the ancestors of modern whales were literally just dipping their toes into the water: this long, slender, otter-like mammal was built for an amphibious lifestyle, with webbed, padded feet and a narrow, crocodile-like snout.
How old is Rodhocetus?
Age: 46-47 million years ago, Eocene Epoch.
What did Ambulocetus have that connects it to primitive whales?
It had a long muzzle, teeth that were very similar to later archaeocetes, a reduced zygomatic arch, and a tympanic bulla (which supports the eardrum) that was poorly attached to the skull. Although Ambulocetus apparently lacked a blowhole, the other skull features qualify Ambulocetus as a cetacean.
How did whales lose their legs?
In findings to be published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, scientists say the gradual shrinkage of the whales’ hind limbs over 15 million years was the result of slowly accumulated genetic changes that influenced the size of the limbs and that these changes happened sometime late in …
Pakicetus was a shore-dwelling creature with webbed feet that lived around 49 million years ago. Scientists were able to link Pakicetus to the evolutionary lineage of whales because of its distinct, dense ear bones.
What kind of animal was Pakicetus?
Pakicetus is an extinct genus of amphibious cetacean of the family Pakicetidae, which was endemic to Pakistan during the Eocene, about 50 million years ago. It was an animal rather like a wolf, about 1 metre (3 ft 3 in) to 2 metres (6 ft 7 in) long, and lived in and around water where it ate fish and small animals.
Do blue whales have tail flukes?
Blue whales will only occasionally raise their tail flukes at the end of a dive. Blue whales are identified by their flukes and small dorsal fin, and individuals are identified by the patterns of color on their backs.
Why are blue whales so big?
Bigness is key to the blue whale’s diet, but bigness also adds to the whale’s overall energy budget. A bigger body requires more food, which even fewer portions of the world ocean can support, thus requiring a bigger body that can travel even further with larger energy stores and greater efficiency.
How are whales different from fish?
Fish have gills that extract oxygen from the water and allow it to live underwater their entire lives. On the other hand, whales do not have gills but instead have one or two blowholes that connect to their lungs, which allow the whale to breathe in air.
Where did the Zygorhiza live?
Zygorhiza kochii lived in the shallow coastal seas of what is now Mississippi, alongside fishes and invertebrates, many of which still exist. These early whales retained the hind limb of their land-based (terrestrial) ancestors, modified as a small flipper. This was later lost in the evolutionary history of whales.
What did the Zygorhiza eat?
Zygorhiza kochii: skeleton
Z. kochii was one of the first fully aquatic whales and had large, multi-cusped teeth for shearing prey items like fish and squid.
What new adaptations did Basilosaurus possess?
By 40 million years ago, Basilosaurus — clearly an animal fully adapted to an aquatic environment — was swimming the ancient seas, propelled by its sturdy flippers and long, flexible body.
Do dolphins have gills?
Dolphins are mammals, not fish.
Unlike fish, who breathe through gills, dolphins breathe air using lungs. Dolphins must make frequent trips to the surface of the water to catch a breath. The blowhole on top of a dolphin’s head acts as a “nose,” making it easy for the dolphin to surface for air.
Do dolphins have hooves?
Cetaceans such as whales, dolphins, and porpoises are also classified as even-toed ungulates, although they do not have hooves. Most terrestrial ungulates use the hoofed tips of their toes to support their body weight while standing or moving. The term means, roughly, “being hoofed” or “hoofed animal”.
Did hippos evolve dolphins?
Despite their contrasting appearances, fully aquatic cetaceans — the group that includes whales, dolphins, and porpoises — and semi-aquatic hippopotamuses are each other’s closest living relatives and share a common ancestor that lived about 55 million years ago.
Did whales used to have feet?
Scientists have found the first direct fossil evidence that whales once had hind legs and feet and retained smaller but functional versions of them for more than 10 million years after they left the land for a life at sea.
Do whales have gills?
Whales and dolphins are mammals and breathe air into their lungs, just like we do. They cannot breathe underwater like fish can as they do not have gills. They breathe through nostrils, called a blowhole, located right on top of their heads.