На информационном ресурсе применяются рекомендательные технологии (информационные технологии предоставления информации на основе сбора, систематизации и анализа сведений, относящихся к предпочтениям пользователей сети "Интернет", находящихся на территории Российской Федерации)

Feedbox

12 подписчиков

Peruvian fossils yield a four-legged otterlike whale with hooves

Author: Helen Thompson / Source: Science News

Peregocetus pacificus
BY LAND AND BY SEA The newly described Peregocetus pacificus (illustrated) had feet optimized for swimming and walking — though its long toes might not have made the animal a great runner.

An ancient four-legged whale walked across land on hooved toes and swam in the sea like an otter.

The newly discovered species turned up in 2011 in a cache of fossilized bones in Playa Media Luna, a dry coastal area of Peru. Jawbones and teeth pegged it as an ancient cetacean, a member of the whale family. And more bones followed.

“We were definitely surprised to find this type of whale in these layers, but the best surprise was its degree of completeness,” says Olivier Lambert, a paleontologist at the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences in Brussels.

Jaw, tooth and spine features, described April 4 in Current Biology, don’t quite…

Click here to read more

The post Peruvian fossils yield a four-legged otterlike whale with hooves appeared first on FeedBox.

Ссылка на первоисточник
наверх