Search results
Results From The WOW.Com Content Network
[3] [4] Parts recovered include the jaw, front and hind legs, bits of spine, and tail. Olivier Lambert, a scientist at the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences and lead author of the study, noted that Peregocetus "fills in a crucial [knowledge] gap" about the evolution of whales and their spread. [3]
Pelvis, vertebrae, and hind limb of Rodhocetus. Rodhocetus was a small whale measuring 2–3 m (6.6–9.8 ft) long. [4] Throughout the 1990s, a close relationship between cetaceans and mesonychians, an extinct group of cursorial, wolf-like ungulates, was generally accepted based on morphological analyses. In the late 1990s, however, cladistic ...
These animals spread to the European coasts and Southern Hemisphere only much later, during the Pliocene. [54] The earliest known ancestor of arctic whales is Denebola brachycephala from the late Miocene around 9–10 million years ago. [55] A single fossil from Baja California indicates the family once inhabited warmer waters. [27] [56] [57]
Sperm whales have the largest brain mass of any animal on Earth, averaging 8,000 cm 3 (490 in 3) and 7.8 kg (17 lb) in mature males. [24] The brain to body mass ratio in some odontocetes, such as belugas and narwhals, is second only to humans. [25] In some whales, however, it is less than half that of humans: 0.9% versus 2.1%. [citation needed]
Although toothed whales do not possess fully developed hind limbs, some, such as the sperm whale, possess discrete rudimentary appendages, which may contain feet and digits. [ citation needed ] Toothed whales are fast swimmers in comparison to seals, which typically cruise at 5–15 knots, or 9–28 km/h (5.6–17.4 mph); the sperm whale, in ...
The two common whales are the large Basilosaurus, and the smaller (3- to 5-metre) Dorudon. [10] At least two other species are known from rarer remains. The whales possess small hind limbs, that are not seen in modern whales, and a powerful skull with teeth similar to those of carnivorous land mammals. [9]
Baleen whales can have streamlined or large bodies, depending on the feeding behavior, and two limbs that are modified into flippers. The fin whale is the fastest baleen whale, recorded swimming at 10 m/s (36 km/h; 22 mph). Baleen whales use their baleen plates to filter out food from the water by either lunge-feeding or skim-feeding
Whales are fully aquatic, open-ocean animals: they can feed, mate, give birth, suckle and raise their young at sea. Whales range in size from the 2.6 metres (8.5 ft) and 135 kilograms (298 lb) dwarf sperm whale to the 29.9 metres (98 ft) and 190 tonnes (210 short tons) blue whale, which is the