We all knew that the whale was actually a terrestrial mammal gone back to the sea a few million years ago (this is most visible in the presence of vestigial leg bones that are not associated to externally apparent legs or fins), but it was a bit difficult to say exactly what the ancestor looked like. It seems that this was more a kind of small deer than big dog (as previously thought). Now, we have the missing link:
Indohyus by Carl Buell
Sources:
- Greg Laden’s blog: A Whale of a Missing Link : Indohyus
- the loom: Whales: From So Humble A Beginning…
- Futura-Science : Le premier ancêtre nageur des cétacés était-il un daim miniature ?
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