Evolution of Cetaceans

Evolution Of Cetaceans

The cetaceans (whales, dolphins and porpoises) are marine mammal descendants of land mammals. Their terrestrial origins are indicated by:

  • Their need to breathe air from the surface;
  • The bones of their fins, which resemble the limbs of land mammals
  • The vertical movement of their spines, characteristic more of a running mammal than of the horizontal movement of fish.

The question of how a group of land mammals became adapted to aquatic life was a mystery until discoveries starting in the late 1970s in Pakistan revealed several stages in the transition of cetaceans from land to sea.

Read more about Evolution Of Cetaceans:  Earliest Ancestors, Indohyus, Early Echolocation, Early Baleen Whales, Early Dolphins, Skeletal Evolution

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