Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
Diagram featuring the typical skeletal of a toothed whale (top) and a baleen whale (bottom) The cetacean skeleton is largely made up of cortical bone , which stabilizes the animal in the water. For this reason, the usual terrestrial compact bones, which are finely woven cancellous bone , are replaced with lighter and more elastic material.
A Blue whale skeleton, outside the Long Marine Laboratory at the University of California, Santa Cruz. Blue Whales are the largest animal ever to have existed. Hunting of Blue Whales has led to a severe decline in numbers across the globe.
Cetacea (/ s ɪ ˈ t eɪ ʃ ə /; from Latin cetus 'whale', from Ancient Greek κῆτος 'huge fish, sea monster') is an infraorder of aquatic mammals belonging to the order Artiodactyla that includes whales, dolphins and porpoises.
Ambulocetidae is a family of early cetaceans from Pakistan.The genus Ambulocetus, after which the family is named, is by far the most complete and well-known ambulocetid genus due to the excavation of an 80% complete specimen of Ambulocetus natans. [2]
Ambulocetus is among the best-studied of Eocene cetaceans, and serves as an instrumental find in the study of cetacean evolution and their transition from land to sea, as it was the first cetacean discovered to preserve a suite of adaptations consistent with an amphibious lifestyle.
Cerro Ballena is exceptionally abundant in cetacean fossils (especially skeletons), which are dominant in all four fossil levels. [2] The high concentration of cetacean skeletons is similar to modern-day mass-mortality stranding events, characterized by beachcasted individuals.
Main page; Contents; Current events; Random article; About Wikipedia; Contact us; Pages for logged out editors learn more
Species of the infraorder Cetacea A phylogenetic tree showing the relationships among cetacean families. [1]The evolution of cetaceans is thought to have begun in the Indian subcontinent from even-toed ungulates (Artiodactyla) 50 million years ago (mya) and to have proceeded over a period of at least 15 million years. [2]