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A large-scale change in ocean current and temperature could have contributed to the radiation of modern mysticetes. [38] The earlier varieties of baleen whales, or "archaeomysticetes", such as Janjucetus and Mammalodon had very little baleen and relied mainly on their teeth. [39]
Cetacea (/ s ɪ ˈ t eɪ ʃ ə /; from Latin cetus 'whale', from Ancient Greek κῆτος () 'huge fish, sea monster') [3] is an infraorder of aquatic mammals belonging to the order Artiodactyla that includes whales, dolphins and porpoises.
If a whale is beached near an inhabited locality, the rotting carcass can pose a nuisance as well as a health risk. Such very large carcasses are difficult to move. The whales are often towed back out to sea away from shipping lanes, allowing them to decompose naturally, or they are towed out to sea and blown up with explosives.
Though it was known that cetaceans descended from land mammals before the discovery of Ambulocetus, the only evidence of this in the fossil record was the 52-million-year-old (fully terrestrial) Pakicetus and the Paleocene mesonychians (as there was a hypothesised link between cetaceans and mesonychians). The limbs of more aquatic Eocene ...
Hunting sperm whales required longer whaling voyages, and soon New Bedford and Nantucket whalemen were ranging the globe, cruising "whaling grounds" off of Japan, off the coast of Peru and Ecuador, and along the equatorial regions of the Pacific Ocean. [17] Whale oil was essential for illuminating homes and businesses in the 19th century, and ...
Whale skulls have small eye orbits, long snouts (with the exception of monodontids and ziphiids) and eyes placed on the sides of its head. Whales range in size from the 2.6-metre (8.5 ft) and 135-kilogram (298 lb) dwarf sperm whale to the 34-metre (112 ft) and 190-metric-ton (210-short-ton) blue whale.
Out of nowhere, two giant blue whales rose from under Captain CiCi Sayer and Dale Frink's boat off the coast of San Diego July 2, casting them into the ocean. Thankfully neither was hurt ...
Though the whale may have been primarily aquatic, the discovery of ankle bones lends to the idea that this fossil may have been a transition between sea-based and land-based mammals. While whales eventually returned to the sea, the anthracotheres , ancestors of the hippopotamus , are thought to have descended from an ancestor shared with the whale.