What did baleen evolve from?
Whales
Whales were the first mammals to evolve baleen, and no other mammal uses any anatomical structure even remotely similar to it to consume its prey.
What did the indohyus evolve into?
He speculates that whales developed from an Indohyus-like ancestor that fed on plants and possibly small invertebrates on land, but fled to water to escape predators. Over time, they slowly turned into meat-eaters and evolved to swim after nimble aquatic prey.
What did Pakicetus evolve?
Meet Pakicetus, a goat-sized, four-legged creature that scientists recognise as one of the first cetaceans (the group of marine animals that includes dolphins and whales). How Pakicetus’ descendants evolved into whales is one of the most intriguing evolutionary journeys known to science.
What did the basilosaurus evolve from?
whale
Unlike the hippo’s ancestor, whale ancestors moved to the sea and evolved into swimming creatures over a period of about 8 million years. Fossils of gigantic ancient whales called Basilosaurus were first mistaken for dinasaur fossils but were later recognised as mammals.
How did whales evolve baleen?
The common ancestor of all baleen whales is estimated to have lived 23 to 25 million years ago. It’s likely this undiscovered ancestor emerged during the time of intense change in the Oligocene. It is also during this time that the earliest common ancestor of today’s toothed whales emerged.
What is Ambergris made of?
Ambergris is formed from a secretion of the bile duct in the intestines of the sperm whale, and can be found floating on the sea or washed up on coastlines. It is sometimes found in the abdomens of dead sperm whales.
Did whales evolve dinosaurs?
The first whales appeared 50 million years ago, well after the extinction of the dinosaurs, but well before the appearance of the first humans. Their ancestor is most likely an ancient artiodactyl, i.e. a four-legged, even-toed hoofed (ungulate) land mammal, adapted for running.
Is Indohyus a whale?
Now Thewissen and colleagues have discovered the skeleton of Indohyus, an approximately 48-million-year-old even-toed ungulate from the Kashmir region of India, as the closest known fossil relative of whales.
Do whales and dogs have common ancestors?
You see, whales are mammals. They are closely related to other animals with hair – horses, dogs, monkeys, rats and even humans.
Why did Basilosaurus go extinct?
Basilosaurus was a specialized type of animal that did not give rise to any later whales. Abrupt global cooling of the Earth’s climate at the end of the Eocene coincided with changing ocean circulation. This led to the extinction of Basilosaurus and most archaic whales around 34 million years ago.
How big do mysticetes get?
these large cetaceans are usually more than 9.1 m (30 ft) long and can be found throughout the ocean. Instead of teeth, mysticetes have a series of horny plates called baleen. The baleen is made from the same materials as human hair and fingernails.
Did mysticetes evolve in response to oceanic oceanic changes?
Perhaps mysticetes evolved in response to such oceanic changes. Mysticetes were quite diverse during Late Oligocene times (23-30 Ma). Toothed mysticetes are known from scattered localities (e.g. Aetiocetus, North Pacific; Mammaldon, Southwest Pacific).
What do mysticetes have instead of teeth?
Instead of teeth, mysticetes have a series of horny plates called baleen. The baleen is made from the same materials as human hair and fingernails. The baleen plates hang from the gums of the upper jaw and are used to filter small bits of food from the water. Baleen whales have symmetrical skulls and have two (or paired) blowholes.
Do mysticetes filter-feed?
Filter-feeding is a key feature for mysticetes. (Odontocetes don’t filter-feed, but are echolocation assisted predators, while archaeocetes show no evidence of filter-feeding or echolocation.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O7KBMc2kQ2s