March of the whales
Paleontologists have found a fossil of a four-legged amphibious ancestor of whales, shedding new light on the mammals’ transition from land to the ocean.
Paleontologists have previously found partial fossils in North America that were 41.2 million years old.
The new specimen, described in Current Biology as 42.6 million years old, was found near Peru’s Pacific coast. It was about 4 meters long and could likely both walk and swim.
“Part of the tail’s vertebrae showed similarities with that of present-day semi-aquatic mammals like otters,” said lead researcher Olivier Lambert.Use of its tail to swim separates it from older fossils which have been found in India and Pakistan.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
- RSS
- |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证:沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证:31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证:0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证:沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证:沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.