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Livyatan had a short and wide rostrum measuring 10 feet (3.0 m) across, which gave the whale the ability to inflict major damage on large struggling prey, such as other early whales. Species like these are collectively known as killer sperm whales or macroraptorial sperm whales. [58] [59] Beaked whales consist of over 20 genera.
A beaked whale is any of at least 22 species of whale in the family Ziphiidae. Several species have only been described in the last two decades. Six genera have been identified. They possess a unique feeding mechanism among cetaceans known as suction feeding. They are characterized by having a lower jaw that extends at least to the tip of the ...
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.
The sperm whale or cachalot (Physeter macrocephalus) is the largest of the toothed whales and the largest toothed predator.It is the only living member of the genus Physeter and one of three extant species in the sperm whale family, along with the pygmy sperm whale and dwarf sperm whale of the genus Kogia.
It was a wolf-like mammal, [3] about 1–2 m (3 ft 3 in – 6 ft 7 in) long, [4] and lived in and around water where it ate fish and other animals. The name Pakicetus comes from the fact that the first fossils of this extinct amphibious whale were discovered in Pakistan .
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 ...
Six species of dolphins have the word "whale" in their name, collectively known as blackfish: the orca, or killer whale, the melon-headed whale, the pygmy killer whale, the false killer whale, and the two species of pilot whales, all of which are classified under the family Delphinidae (oceanic dolphins). [6]
It was the ancestor of modern whales, dolphins, and porpoises. The cetacea are extensively adapted to marine life and cannot survive on land at all. Their adaptation can be seen in many unique physiognomic characteristics such as the dorsal blowhole , baleen teeth, and the cranial 'melon' organ used for aquatic echolocation .