Scientists have found fossils in a coastal desert in southern Peru for a four-legged amphibian whale that lived in the sea and the mainland some 43 million years ago in a discovery that explains an important stage in the development of marine mammals.
The four-meter-long whale, called the peaceful pyrgositus, represents a critical transition before whales become fully adapted to marine life, scientists said on Thursday.
The four parties were able to carry the whale on the mainland, which means that he could return to that rocky coast for rest and possibly birth before spending most of his time at sea.
The ends of the whale end with small hooves and may have been attached to the membranes to help him swim.
"We think this type of whale was nestled in the water, and its movements there were easier than it was on the mainland," said Oliver Lambert, a research expert at the Belgian Royal Institute of Natural Sciences, which oversaw the research published in the Carnet Biology journal.
The origin of the whales was not clearly understood until the 1990s when fossils were discovered for the first generations.
Several fossils have shown that whales originated more than 50 million years ago
تعليقات
إرسال تعليق