In growth it was similar to today's Killer whales, but Basilosaurus was muchlenthier than killer whales(twice the size of the killer whale).There was a co-existence between this huge c. By continuing to use the website, you consent to analytics tracking per NYIT's Privacy Statement This affects the attachment of the masticatory muscles but also the path of the nerves going to eyes and nose. Once cetacean hindlimbs were no longer needed, it could have taken millions of years before they were lost entirely, with a protracted period of highly reduced hindlimbs. Science. The Front Flippers of Basilosaurus Retained Their Elbow Hinges, The Vertebrae of Basilosaurus Were Filled With Fluid, Basilosaurus Wasn't the Largest Whale That Ever Lived. 2001;21:34766. The cheek teeth have well-developed accessory denticles. Although the first fossils for this group were discovered before World War II, these were so fragmentary that they were not recognized as cetaceans. It appears most likely that Ambulocetus was an ambush predator, attacking prey that came close to it but not pursuing it over long distances. 2006;26:35570. Such a diagram is called a cladogram. Comparative anatomy The study of differences and similarities between living things. Embryos of the pantropical spotted dolphin (Stenella attenuata) covering approximately weeks 4 to 9 of embryonic development. Basilosaurid genera are separated into four subfamilies: Dorudontinae, Basilosaurinae, Kekenodontinae, and Stromeriinae. 1st ed. All known members of the subfamily are larger than their relatives of the Dorudontinae subfamily except Cynthiacetus. On the other hand, whereas the main propulsive organ of cetaceans and sirenians is the tail, sea lions swim with their forelimbs, and seals with their hind limbs. ThoughtCo. The emergence of whales: evolutionary patterns in the origin of Cetacea. _____________ ____________Mammals In the latter case, the heat exchange is used to reduce the temperature of the testes. Because of a shortage of forelimb fossils from other archaeocetes, it is not known if this arrangement is unique to basilosaurids, as some of the characteristics are also seen in Georgiacetus.[3]. Geisler JH, Uhen MD. Dorudon atrox in turn was a prey item for the larger basilosaurid . the middle of the snout. Isotopic approaches to understanding the terrestrial to marine transition of the earliest cetaceans. 2007;290:71633. Evo Edu Outreach 2, 272288 (2009). Sensory Abilities: Land mammals (including humans) can hear underwater, but they cannot tell which direction the sound comes from because sound waves travel through the bones of the skull and arrive at both inner ears at the same time. Fossil cetaceans are the pakicetid Ichthyolestes (red), the remingtonocetid Remingtonocetus (orange), the protocetid Indocetus (yellow), and the basilosaurid Dorudon (purple). 1999;25:53456. He appears anxious and says that he is short of breath. [3][4] The group is noted to be a paraphyletic assemblage of stem group whales[5] from which the monophyletic Neoceti are derived. A stable isotope study of the teeth of Indohyus also suggested that it lived in water (Thewissen et al. The blowhole in modern cetaceans is located between the eyes on the forehead, an adaptation for breathing while remaining submerged. You can find out more about our use, change your default settings, and withdraw your consent at any time with effect for the future by visiting Cookies Settings, which can also be found in the footer of the site. 2009. Basal fully aquatic whales, the basilosaurids are worldwide known from Bartonian-Priabonian localities, indicating that this group was widely distributed during the late middle Eocene. 2001), and as is beautifully indicated by the presence of an astragalus with two trochleas (Fig. 23) with large teeth, suggestive of a diet that includes hard elements (such as bones of large fish or other vertebrates). A new middle Eocene protocetid whale (Mammalia: Cetacea: Archaeoceti) and associated biota from Georgia. The postcranial skeleton of pakicetid cetaceans. In life, the peg like front teeth were used to seize prey and the rear triangular teeth were used to dispatch and process prey. 1: Georgia's Oldest Fossils; Archaeocyathids, At 513 Million Years Old, 8: Suwannee Current, Gulf Trough, & Bridgeboro Limestone, 9: The Clayton Formation Report; By Hank Josey, 12: Basilosaurids; The First Modern Whales, 13: Ziggy and The Museum of Arts & Sciences, Macon, GA, 18: Miocene Epoch; 23.3 to 5.3 Million Years Ago, 19: Pliocene Epoch; 5.3 to 2.5 Million years Ago, 20: The Ice Ages; Pleistocene & Holocene Epochs, *NEW* 20K: Pleistocene Vertebrates from Coastal Georgia. View the full answer. Pakicetus Locomotion: Although Basilosaurus has rudimentary hindlimbs, they were useless for any sort of terrestrial locomotion. In 1845, a man named Albert Koch perpetrated one of the most notorious hoaxes in the history of paleontology, reassembling a bunch of Basilosaurus bones into a fraudulent "sea monster" named Hydrarchos ("ruler of the waves"). 1998; Clementz et al. Correspondence to This locality is a bone bed, scattered with fossils from many different animals (Fig. What is comparative anatomy? In: Mazin J-M, Buffrnil VD, editors. & Reguero M. (2019). Cetaceans are unrelated to other marine mammals, the sirenians (manatees and dugongs) and the pinnipeds (seals, sea lions, walruses). Then wait for the post The reason for this reduction is not fully understood, but it is possible that the reduction is related to the emergence of an immobile neck (Spoor et al. "Bone-Breaking Bite Force of, Gingerich P.D., Smith B.H., Simons E.L. (1990). The hind limbs of basilosaurids were not connected to the rest of the skeleton and were likely too small to have assisted in swimming. Three species of Basilosaurus are known, and specimens have been discovered in fossil sites in the southeastern United States (Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Tennessee), England, Egypt, Jordan, and Pakistan, indicating that Basilosaurus inhabited the Northern Atlantic Ocean, Tethys Sea, and the Paratethys Sea (the precursor to the Mediterranean Sea). Evolution: Education and Outreach Zeuglodon) is a genus of primitive whale from the Late Eocene. Therefore, skeletons of pakicetids are composites based on bones from a number of different individuals, identified based on their size, their similarity to other primitive whales, the chemical composition of the bones, and the relative abundance at their locality. B.T., a 222222-year-old man who lives in a small mountain town in Colorado, is highly allergic to dust and pollen. Fordyce E, Muizon Cd. common ancestor with, ANSWER 1. "10 Facts About Basilosaurus." The intermediate fossil of the Basilosaurid whale contains a nasal hole at ________. Pakicetids have teeth with cusps (the elevated bumps on a tooth) that are high, separated by deep valleys from other cusps (Fig. and then the comments to load (may take many seconds). The great length of the vertebral column of basilosaurids can be attributed to the increase in the number of lumbar vertebrae in the taxon but also by the increase in length of each individual vertebra. Finding His Porpoise! Berkeley: Univ Calif Press; 2008. p. 333330. This thickened wall is called the involucrum and is present in all cetaceans, fossil and recent. The former species were larger and had larger eyes (Fig. This is consistent with the environmental evidence from the rocks that the fossils are found in. report the skeleton of a stem toothed whale, from the Oligocene of South Carolina, with intermediate locomotor adaptations between modern toothed whales and the earliest pelagic whales. Write C++ statements that do the following: The scientific name is always the Genus + species. 07 of 10 Basilosaurus Was the Inspiration for the Hydrarchos Fossil Hoax Cetaceans have lungs and come to the surface to breathe air, like other mammals and unlike fish. The rocks in which these fossils are preserved indicate that the bones were buried in a freshwater stream. Basal fully aquatic whales, the basilosaurids are worldwide known from BartonianPriabonian localities, indicating that this group was widely distributed during the late middle Eocene. de., Ricqles, A. The name "King Lizard" is misleading in not one, but two, ways: Not only was Basilosaurus a whale rather than a reptile, but it wasn't even close to being the king of the whales; later cetaceans were much more formidable. About 50 million years ago, during the evolution from (raoellid) artiodactyls to (pakicetid) cetaceans, a remarkable transformation took place. The emergence of whales: evolutionary patterns in the origin of Cetacea. The hindlimbs are tiny, and the pelvis lacked any bony connection to the vertebral column (and must have floated in the muscles of the belly), indicating that these elements could not support any weight out of water. Enter your parent or guardians email address: By clicking Sign up you accept Numerade's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. Like other mammals and unlike other vertebrates, they nurse their young; they have three ear bones that are involved in sound transmission (hammer, anvil, and stirrup), and their lower jaws consist of a single bone (the dentary). Oxygen-16 is by far the more common isotope (over 99% in nature), but the ratio between Oxygen-16 and Oxygen-18 varies in different environments, and animals living in water have a different ratio compared to animals living on land (Roe et al. By Robert Boessenecker (@CoastalPaleo) and Sarah Boessenecker (tetrameryx) Happy Fossil Friday! In all these features, basilosaurids are more similar to modern cetaceans than to protocetids, and it is likely that they did not leave the oceans and were the first obligate cetaceans (Kellogg 1936; Uhen 2004). We thank Ajay Thakore and the Gujarat Mining Development Corporation for assistance with fieldwork in Gujarat, and Mr. Bhatti of Bhuj for help with logistics. J Vert Pal. Nummela S, Thewissen JGM, Bajpai S, Hussain ST, Kumar K. Sound transmission in archaic and modern whales: anatomical adaptations for underwater hearing. 2004. The time of origin of whales and the role of behavioral changes in the terrestrialaquatic transition. Curiously, the ribs of Basilosaurus are very dense and thickened, which is a specialization that probably allowed it to achieve slight negative buoyancy. We will discuss these following the order of the cladogram. A point of similarity among protocetids is the position and size of the eyes, which differentiates them from earlier cetaceans (Nummela et al. B.T's wife drove him to the clinic when his wheezing was unresponsive to fluticasone/salmeterol (Advair) and ipratropium bromide (Atrovent) inhalers, he was unable to lie down, and he began to use accessory muscles to breathe. This changed in the early 1990s, when paleontologists unearthed the first of a series of fossil cetaceans, mostly in India and Pakistan, documenting the transition from land to water in detail in the Eocene Period (which lasted from approximately 54 to 34 million years ago). Cetacea includes one of the largest species of animal ever, the blue whale (27m in length, 136,000kg) but also has some very small modern representatives, e.g., the vaquita (1.4m in length, 42kg). The teeth in the tip of the snout are roughly similar to those of modern fish-eating toothed whales, although the teeth are extremely robust and deeply rooted. It is possible that these relatives are also closely related to hippopotamids, which would make molecular and morphological phylogenies consistent. The study of differences and similarities between living things. While hunting in these deep and murky waters, they use short, powerful, ultrasonic echolocation clicks to find, follow, and catch . Nature. (2001), Nature), Fossiliferous area of H-GSP Locality 62, the richest locality for pakicetid cetaceans. Dentally, remingtonocetids are specialized (Thewissen and Bajpai 2001a); their molars have lost the crushing basins of pakicetids and ambulocetids. Bajpai S, Thewissen JGM. Their diversity was highest during the Eocene Epoch. have come from the common ancestor. They were probably the first fully aquatic cetaceans. Cetaceans (whales, dolphins, and porpoises) are an order of mammals that originated about 50 million years ago in the Eocene epoch. Cetaceans are so different from land mammals that it was difficult to find significant similarities in the anatomy between cetaceans and land mammals. Proc US Natl Mus. From Land to Water: the Origin of Whales, Dolphins, and Porpoises. To a certain extent, cetaceans can be considered to be the most successful group of aquatic animals of all time. Sensory biology on the threshold: adaptations in secondarily aquatic vertebrates. As cetaceans became more aquatic, the nasal bones retracted and the nasal opening migrated to the top of the skull and became the blowhole (modified from Thewissen and Bajpai 2001b). There are approximately seven genera of basilosaurid cetaceans, but basically they can be divided into two body types. & Welsh R.C. The second body type among basilosaurids is shorter, as short as 4m. These basilosaurids, called dorudontines (Uhen 1998), had dolphin-shaped bodies and swam by up-and-down motions of their tail fluke. 20). coat of fur ____________ ______________Both have? Aquatic life for Ambulocetus is consistent with the stable isotope data (Roe et al. One of the first identified prehistoric whales, Basilosaurus, the "king lizard," has been a part of American culture for literally hundreds of years, especially in the southeastern U.S. The evolution of the blowhole in whales, which according to the fossil evidence moved from the tip to the vertex of the head, has caused some concerns amongst our creationist readers who wonder how such a feat could have taken place. In spite of our advances in understanding of the pattern of cetacean origins, it remains unclear which process caused this pattern: Why did cetaceans enter the oceans? This eye position occurs in aquatic mammals such as hippopotamus. Dolphins, pilot whales and sperm whales use echolocation clicks to hunt and subdue their prey. 2007). a Outline ellipses and regression of body size (on x-axis, as 10-log in grams) against semicircular canal radius (on y-axis, as 10-log in mm) for modern land mammals (maroon) and modern cetaceans (blue). reptile-like creatures have come from the common ancestor. 24). Eg: in Australia, which was the first island that had been isolated by oceans from the others, a great diversity of pouched mammals evolved, while on the rest of the continents placental evolved and diversified. His current research is on trait-based community dynamics in vertebrates, Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree. The involucrum is not present in other mammals, except for one: Indohyus (Fig. Skulls and skeletons are known for a single raoellid: Indohyus (Thewissen et al. In modern bowhead whales (pictured here is the pelvis of an adult male, B. mysticetus, 98B5), the acetabulum and obturator foramen are lost and the ilium is reduced. However, the rest of Basilosaurus hearing adaptations indicate it was fully marine, and thus any retention of adaptations for hearing airborne sound was probably vestigial. 1990;229:1547. structures that have different mature forms in different organisms but develop from the same embryonic material, A structure that is present in an organism but no longer serves its original purpose, the study of the formation, early growth, and development of different organisms, provides evidence about the history of lfe on Earth, also shows the adaption of animals over time, the study of the earth's physical and cultural features, David N. Shier, Jackie L. Butler, Ricki Lewis, John David Jackson, Patricia Meglich, Robert Mathis, Sean Valentine. New York: Plenum; 1998. p. 21334. 14+16+27+38-\frac{1}{4}+\frac{1}{6}+\frac{2}{7}+\frac{3}{8}41+61+72+83. the Basilosaurid whale? Paleobiology. 1). However, all modern cetaceans lack a hair coat, presumably an adaptation to reduce friction and improve locomotion. Basilosaurines are the archetypal basilosaurids, with elongated vertebrae and long tails. The more similar the DNAs are, the closer related the organisms are. Basilosauridae is a family of extinct cetaceans. Fossils of ambulocetids can be classified in three genera, and remains of these have been found in Northern Pakistan and northwestern India. Their jaws were powerful,[9] with a dentition easily distinguishable from that of other archaeocetes: they lack upper third molars and the upper molars lack protocones, trigon basins, and lingual third roots. Both are missing a The emergence of whales: evolutionary patterns in the origin of Cetacea. 13). another animal is to ? In the Northern Hemisphere, fossils of basilosaurids are abundant, while records in the Southern Hemisphere are scarce and, in some cases (i.e., Antarctica), doubtful. ______________________ The closest match, so far, of whale DNA to CAS Ambulocetid fossils are approximately 49 million years old (middle Eocene). X-ray computed tomographic (CT) scanning has been . Eg: there's a stage of developement when dolphins and humans are looks the same. 15), the walking and swimming whale (ambulare is Latin for to walk, cetus is Latin for whale, and natans for swimming; Thewissen et al. Thewissen). Bones shown here are derived from several individuals and were found scrambled with many other bones near the border area between Pakistan and India by geologist A. Ranga Rao ( J.G.M. Modern giant South American river otters (Pteronura brasiliensis) have a long tail that is flat dorsoventrally and that is swept up and down during swimming. The changing cetacean body plan during the first ten million years of cetacean evolution. The sediments at Locality 62 can inform us about the environment in which pakicetid whales lived (Aslan and Thewissen 1997) and in which more than 60% of the fossils are pakicetids (Thewissen et al. Author: Robert . The earliest cetaceans, pakicetids, ambulocetids, and remingtonocetids are only known from India and Pakistan. 2001; www.neoucom.edu/DEPTS/ANAT/Thewissen/whale_origins/whales/Pakicetid.html). The marrow cavity of the femur of Ambulocetus makes up 57% of the cross section of the bone. Skeletal evidence indicates that Basilosaurus could perceive the direction of origin for underwater sounds. Isotopic records from early whales and sea cows: contrasting patterns of ecological transition. Such heavy bones are called osteosclerotic and are common in aquatic mammals that are waders or bottom walkers but not swimmers. The new find of aquatic behaviors in raoellids suggests that these animals used the water as a refuge against danger. Creationists have moved the goal posts to other questions which I will attempt to address as an addition to my original posting since they require graphics and comments do not allow for pictures to be included. The typical species were around 18 meters/60 feet in length in life, and had serrated, triangular teeth with two roots, and had a second pair of small, possibly functional flippers. Middle Eocene cetaceans from the Harudi and Subathu Formations of India. Raoellidae has been a family of artiodactyls for more than 20years; the recent finding by one group of authors (Thewissen et al. The fact that the cetacean nose moved, in the course of evolution, from the tip of the rostrum up to the vertex of the head, is among the most perfect of adaptations to aquatic life. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. J Anat Physiol. Their molars differed greatly from those of protocetids and ambulocetids, there not being a central depression surrounded by three cusps in the upper molars (O'Leary and Uhen 1999). 2001b). Gingerich PD, Haq M, Zalmout IS, Khan IH, Malkani MS. 4), has a hinge joint, called a trochlea, where it articulates with the tibia (shin bone). Preliminary evaluation of Kuldana paleosols and implications for interpreting vertebrate fossil assemblages, Kuldana Formation, Northern Pakistan. In: Thewissen JGM, editor. Eg: when we looking at the whales's anatomy, we can see that they evolved from an ancien 4 legged land mammal. Omissions? Basilosaurus (meaning "king lizard") is a genus of large, predatory, prehistoric archaeocete whale from the late Eocene, approximately 41.3 to 33.9 million years ago (mya). Science 249:154-157. New York: Plenum; 1998. p. 399421. 1998; Hulbert 1998). The pelvis of Ambulocetus was large and weight bearing (H-GSP 18507), but, in Basilosaurus (US National Museum 12261), the pelvis was no longer attached to the vertebrae and the ilium was very reduced. Other features are even more impressive indicators of the land ancestry of cetaceans. In the forelimb, basilosaurids resemble modern cetaceans, in that their elbow joint is not separately mobile and their hand webbed with individual digits not recognizable (Uhen 2004). Bob Strauss is a science writer and the author of several books, including "The Big Book of What, How and Why" and "A Field Guide to the Dinosaurs of North America. 2006. The foramen is enormous, covering nearly the entire depth of the jaw in modern cetaceans and remingtonocetids, unlike pakicetids, where it is smaller (Fig. And even though modern cetaceans have bodies fully adapted for life in water, traces of their land ancestry are still present in cetacean embryos: modern cetaceans lack hind limbs, but their embryos still have the beginnings of hind limbs. Origin of whales from early artiodactyls: hands and feet of Eocene Protocetidae from Pakistan. Shows that all living organisms are made up of cells and they contain similar biochemicals which indicates a common ancestory. Such a locality is called a bone bed, and it is not possible to determine which skull went with which other bones. In all mammals, this bone, the astragalus or talus (Fig. Basilosaurus may have swum by sinuous movements of its entire body (Buchholtz 1998). Diet: The skull of Basilosaurus is superficially crocodilian in shape, exhibits large jaw muscle attachment areas, and a fearsome set of teeth with canine-shaped incisors in front, and flattened, serrated triangular molars in back. The branching of the cetacean groups on this cladogram is consistent with most recent work (Thewissen et al. Whales originated from aquatic artiodactyls in the Eocene epoch of India. Hand and foot of the protocetid Rodhocetus (modified from Gingerich et al. The earliest whaleswhich were thought to have evolved from terrestrial ancestors in the order Artiodactyla (a group that contains living pigs, hippopotamuses, and even-toed ungulates), most likely the raoellid artiodactyls (aquatic artiodactyls from South Asia that lived during the Eocene)had relatively long back legs and were probably amphibious in their lifestyle. In the late middle Eocene, around 41 million years ago, a new kind of cetacean emerged, the first one that resembles modern cetaceans: Basilosauridae (Uhen 1998). Further evidence of the aquatic habitat for Indohyus comes from the chemical composition of its teeth. In the past, the presence of an ectotympanic with an involucrum was the main character supporting the inclusion of a species in Cetacea, and it is therefore sometimes advocated that Indohyus (or Raoellidae) be included in Cetacea. Toothed whales can use vocal registers like humans to communicate and hunt. Good introductions to the evolutionary history of odontocetes and mysticetes have been published (Fordyce and Muizon 2001; Bianucci and Landini 2007). Buffrenil, V. Just like Indohyus, limb bones of pakicetids are osteosclerotic (Madar 2007), also suggestive of aquatic habitat, an interpretation consistent with stable isotope evidence (Roe et al. Basilosaurus was an unfamiliar, long snake like animal. Counter current heat exchange evidence is also found for the tongue and the testes of dolphins. Hind limbs of Eocene Basilosaurus: evidence of feet in whales. M3 is the last molar in the upper jaw, and the mandibular fossa is the jaw joint. When blood moves to the outer extremities, the blood is cooled due to heat exchange with the cold environment, however, when the blood returns, it flows close to the warm incoming blood flow and exchanges heat, causing the return blood to be warmed up. All modern Cetacea live in water and cannot survive out of the water. Rains came only a few times per year, but they were torrential. This, however, would place it so far outside the mainstream of cetacean evolution that other experts remain skeptical. J Pal. In this case, it is hippos. The bony wall is broken in this specimen, showing the thickness of the wall (medial tympanic wall). Internally, there are pelvic or hind limb remnants in all species, which provide origin for the muscles to the genitals. Buono M, Fordyce R.E., Marx F.G., Fernndez M.S. This suggests that the diet of remingtonocetids is different from that of earlier cetaceans. New York: Plenum; 1998. p. 128. It is possible that it fed on water plants, but it is also possible that it came on land to feed on land plants, in a way similar to modern hippos. J Pal. Comparing things that are similar and different. At the end of each limb, there were four or five toes that ended in hoof, similar to that of a deer. In details of ear anatomy too, remingtonocetids are more specialized than pakicetids and ambulocetids (Nummela et al. This form of locomotion is anguilliform, or eel-like; in the case of Basilosaurus, this movement would have been up-down, rather than side to side as in eels and other anguilliform fishes. (D) Pelvis and femur of the juvenile male specimen figured in C. (E) Another pelvis and femur from an adult specimen (B. mysticetus, 98B5) for comparison. b A reconstruction of inner ear of modern bowhead whale, showing semicircular canals above, broken stapes (yellow), and the cochlea below. ______________________ The closest match, so far, of whale DNA to Basilosaurus plied the world's seas during the late Eocene epoch, about 40 to 34 million years ago, at a time when many megafauna mammals (like the terrestrial predator Andrewsarchus) were endowed with giant sizes and comparatively small brains. Comparative and functional anatomy of balance in aquatic mammals. 18). Cour Forsch Inst Senckenberg. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions. 1st ed. 2004;34:1222. In an if/else statement, the if part executes its statement or block if the expression is __________, and the else part executes its statement or block if the expression is __________. PubMedGoogle Scholar. Fig 2. Carnegie Institute of Washington Publication, vol. Gingerich PD, Arif M, Clyde WC. The limb proportions (relative length of the thighs, feet, and hands, etc.) 2007). J Vert Pal. However, it also seems possible that the hindlimbs had no clear function. Basilosaurids had flukes similar to those of modern whales, but they differed from living whales in having triangle-shaped teeth, small hind limbs, and an elongated body with an extended tail. It had a long snout and a long tail and long slender limbs. Madar SI, Thewissen JGM, Hussain ST. Additional holotype remains of Ambulocetus natans (Cetacea, Ambulocetidae), and their implications for locomotion in early whales. Here, we will present an overview of the most important players in the origin of cetaceans. In: Thewissen JGM, Nummela S, editors. Implications of vertebral morphology for locomotor evolution in early Cetacea. March 2, 2023. The study of how organisms are related to each other is called phylogenetic inference, and hypotheses regarding phylogeny are indicated by a cladogram, a branching diagram that links more-and-more closely related groups as closer-and-closer branches. It exchanges heat, ions, or gases between vessel walls so that the two bloodstreams within the rete maintain a gradient with respect to temperature, or concentration of gases or solutes. Porpoises belong to the modern family Phocoenidae, and are one of the less diverse 'families' of modern echolocating whales (Odontoceti), with six species in three genera. _______________________________ Where is the nasal opening in Llanocetus was a large animal with a 2 meter (6.5 foot) long head and a body length of perhaps 30 feet (9.1 meters). Roe LJ, Thewissen JGM, Quade J, O'Neil JR, Bajpai S, Sahni A, et al. the Basilosaurid whale? 1994, 1996; Madar et al. However, the details of the pakicetid skeleton tell a different story; this was not an ordinary land predator.

Losi Baja Rey Upgrades, How To Transfer Utilities To New Owner, Pcdc Jail Bookings, Roane County Obituaries, Articles W