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Did Whales Evolve From Pigs?
FortKnox writes : "According to this acticle, scientists have found proof that whales evolved from a pig/sheep like creature. Whale evolution has been sketchy for years, but a palentologist has plugged the gaps with some fossils found in Pakistan. It appears Hippos may be the closest relatives to whales."
Yup, Stuff that matters.
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If whales are related to hippos, then it could explain why they took to the water. With such large body masses, the density of water relative to the density of air would help to lighten the load of such a creature. If you could survive better in water cuase it was easier to move, you'd live there too....
Effecient != fast.
you've gotta wonder what prompts evolution...
Natural selection + random genetic drift.
Ryan T. Sammartino
"Ancora imparo"
It wasn't too long ago that people thought cetatians evolved from dogs, and/or small furry creatures (no, not from Alpha Centauri
Seriously, this theory sounds, well, interesting to say the least. Pigs and sheep just don't seem to make sense. The skeletal structure is so different, it would be hard to contemplate a common ancestor, except for one so far back as to make the relationship irrelevent.
Hippos are more "logical", but don't quite cut the mustard, either. Remember, river dolphins (the most ancient species of whale still alive) are in places like the Amazon basin and China. Neither of which is known for its hippopotomous populations.
One thing to note is that the amount of information on the Internet on river dolphins is extremely limited. Publicly-available information seems to be limited to non-existant.
(Just try finding a recording of a river dolphin, or a graph of one, some video footage, behavioural studies, EEG photos, or almost ANY in-depth data. I've found a few murky photos, some eloquent descriptions, but absolutely no data worth a damn.)
This is relevent, since they -are- so ancient. If nobody has done much research on ancient whale species, then how valid can any research be, which claims to talk of where they came from?
You just CAN'T take a modern species of whale, and directly compare it with fossil remains. You are just asking for trouble, if you do, as similar needs will lead to similar solutions. That means you have to look for the closest possible match of the most ancient form you can find.
It's a small world and it smells funny; I'd buy another if it wasn't for the money; Take back what I paid (SoM)
Here are two related articles:
- article at CBC Newsworld
- article at the Globe and Mail
Well, Fish, not Phish, but that would've been even funnier. They were hunting fish, did it more and more, and got more and more adapted to being in the water. Offensive, not defensive.
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> It wasn't too long ago that people thought cetatians evolved from dogs, and/or small furry creatures (no, not from Alpha Centauri
They've discussed this over at talk.origins (the newsgroup), and I gather that the paleontologists thought one thing and the DNAologists thought another, and the recent find convinced the P's that the D's were right.
Apparently the deciding issue was some ankle bone that had not been in any of the earlier finds, so the P's had been working from skull similarities, that being the best evidence their branch of the field had to work with.
ps - sorry to shorten the "..." in your subject line, but the lame-o lameness filter accused me of trying ASCII art, and wouldn't take my reply without the snip.
Sheesh, evil *and* a jerk. -- Jade
> try http://www.answersingenesis.org and http://www.trueorigins.org for some interesting evidence against evolution
Or, if you prefer to see the views of scientists rather than religious leaders, visit www.talkorigins.org (yeah, I already said that).
Though I doubt that their "whales" documents have been updated yet.
Sheesh, evil *and* a jerk. -- Jade
Sorry, I just haven't met the creationist that I can take seriously (of course, the universe is only 30 seconds old, so maybe there's time...).