40-Million-Year-Old 'Walking Whale' Fossil Found In Peru

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40-Million-Year-Old 'Walking Whale' Fossil Found In Peru

Posted by samzenpus on Thursday September 19, 2013 @09:32PM from the a-long-time-ago dept.

minty3 writes "Found in the Ocucaje Desert in southern Peru, the fossils belong to a group called Achaeocetes, or ancient whales, that possess both land and sea-dwelling characteristics. Over time, the ancient land animals adapted to water environments where their legs became fin-like and their bodies began to resemble modern sea mammals like dolphins and whales."

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Invertibrate Whales? by rufty_tufty · 2013-09-19 21:40 · Score: 5, Insightful

They lost their spine and hind legs 5 million years later
I can see why slashdotters don't read the article if the article claims things like whales are invertebrates ;-)

--
"The weirdest thing about a mind, is that every answer that you find, is the basis of a brand new cliche" -
1. Re:Invertibrate Whales? by Anne_Nonymous · 2013-09-20 00:01 · Score: 3, Funny
  
  >> whales are invertebrates
  Given their size, it seems more likely the vertebrates are in them.
2. Re:Invertibrate Whales? by aNonnyMouseCowered · 2013-09-20 00:54 · Score: 3, Funny
  
  "They lost their spine"
  Seeing their imminent defeat at the hands of the coconut-wielding proto-simians, their landlubbing ancestors lost heart and fled to the sea.
3. Re:Invertibrate Whales? by jellomizer · 2013-09-20 03:25 · Score: 1
  
  I think they meant their Hind legs have been disconnected with their spine.
  
  --
  If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
4. Re:Invertibrate Whales? by binarylarry · 2013-09-20 03:26 · Score: 1, Funny
  
  You know quoting from Kent Hovind's PhD thesis is technically copyright infringement.
  
  --
  Mod me down, my New Earth Global Warmingist friends!
5. Re:Invertibrate Whales? by JWSmythe · 2013-09-20 05:15 · Score: 1
  
  Well.. Whales have a vestigial pelvis. Somehow the author, editor, and whoever else they have reviewing news stories failed to recognize the glaring mistake.
  
  --
  Serious? Seriousness is well above my pay grade.
6. Re:Invertibrate Whales? by WillgasM · 2013-09-20 09:55 · Score: 1
  
  This made me Fry face and tab over to Google as well. I now have "since when do whales not have spines" in my search history.
7. Re:Invertibrate Whales? by Xiver · 2013-09-20 10:18 · Score: 1
  
  So now PhD theses don't fall under fair use?
  
  --
  10: PRINT "Everything old is new again."
  20: GOTO 10
8. Re:Invertibrate Whales? by khelms · 2013-09-20 18:47 · Score: 1
  
  Who modded this as "flamebait"? It was a perfectly on-topic South Park quote!
cool by marcello_dl · 2013-09-19 21:42 · Score: 2

Whales could walk and serpents could talk. No problems whatsoever.

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1. Re:cool by 2fuf · 2013-09-19 23:12 · Score: 1
  
  Hmm, I still prefer money and bullshit
2. Re:cool by VortexCortex · 2013-09-20 02:37 · Score: 1
  
  In hebrew the root of the word for serpent is the same as to lie.
  
  Well, I don't see many deceptive snakes in nature...
  Now, in English the root of the word Lawyer is the same as oppression.
  IMO, accuracy counts when picking predictive fairy tales.
3. Re:cool by marcello_dl · 2013-09-20 05:07 · Score: 1
  
  LOL it's the week of the serpent, see my comment history.
  
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4. Re:cool by marcello_dl · 2013-09-20 05:16 · Score: 1
  
  > Well, I don't see many deceptive snakes in nature...
  Maybe parent hinted at the fact that snake might refer to a liar instead of a reptile. But no, let's forget that referring to people as animals is commonplace in literature and common talk...
  
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  ---- MISSING MISCELLANEOUS DATA SEGMENT --- [sigdash] trolololol
5. Re:cool by marcello_dl · 2013-09-24 02:27 · Score: 1
  
  This seems a weak argument. Genesis IIRC is oral tradition transcribed at some point. Figures of speech symbols rhymes repetitions and others could have been employed. Some time later, a guy would teach using parables.
  Besides, the bible is not a proof that needs confutation, believers themselves say that you are free to choose, if a coherent sacred text is a requirement for you to start considering a religion, there are no probs here.
  
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  ---- MISSING MISCELLANEOUS DATA SEGMENT --- [sigdash] trolololol
I was wondering by Chrisq · 2013-09-19 21:52 · Score: 5, Funny

40-Million-Year-Old 'Walking Whale' Fossil Found In Peru
I was wondering what had happened to Cowboy Neil. Glad they found him again.
That's Archaeocetes! by palemantle · 2013-09-19 21:56 · Score: 4, Informative

Archaeocetes = ancient whales. Achaeocetes = typo. Is a basic spell check too much to ask?
1. Re:That's Archaeocetes! by Anonymous Coward · 2013-09-19 22:05 · Score: 1
  
  I think rather than use a spell checker, we should just define 'Achaeocetes' as a new word.
2. Re:That's Archaeocetes! by loufoque · 2013-09-19 22:20 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  How many people have Latin spell-checking installed?
3. Re:That's Archaeocetes! by Anonymous Coward · 2013-09-19 22:49 · Score: 3, Funny
  
  It's misspelled in the article as well as in the summary, so I guess we know that a) at least the submitter can copy and paste accurately, and b) the International Business Times is probably not the best place for accurate science reporting.
4. Re:That's Archaeocetes! by palemantle · 2013-09-19 23:00 · Score: 1
  
  Fair enough. That said, I didn't mean a spell-check tool. I don't use those either. I meant a re-read of the contents before posting. In this case, that wouldn't have helped either as the article has gotten the name wrong too.
5. Re:That's Archaeocetes! by aBaldrich · 2013-09-19 23:25 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  A classicla latin spell checker would say it's a typo, because this is a new word invented by biologists.
  
  --
  In soviet russia the government regulates the companies.
6. Re:That's Archaeocetes! by MightyYar · 2013-09-20 01:17 · Score: 3, Funny
  
  classicla
  You conjugated wrong.
  
  --
  W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.
7. Re:That's Archaeocetes! by I'm+New+Around+Here · 2013-09-20 02:15 · Score: 3, Informative
  
  Let me put it this way: If your first language is any of { english, french, italian, spanish, ... } - you should have an instinctive feel for the spelling of Latin. If not, well, sorry boy-o, but you're a rube.
  Except for two points:
  A) English is more Germanic based than Latin based. So we aren't particularly strong in old-time Latin. That's why we actually make up words that have one root in Latin and one in Greek, and can't see the problem.
  B) Most of our Latin comes from French, and not the modern form of it at that, but Old French. Old French is itself a bastardized form of Latin, and the native Gaul tongue had some role in it.
  So, with these aspects of English being what they are, it's hardly surprising if we see little relation from our modern words to their original form in ancient Rome.
  
  --
  If you think I voted for Trump because of this post, you're wrong. I voted for Dr. Jill Stein of the Green Party. Again.
8. Re:That's Archaeocetes! by VortexCortex · 2013-09-20 02:50 · Score: 1
  
  classicla
  You conjugated wrong.
  Easy now, MightyYar, yon spell check be old as thar elusive whale ye hunt.
  Ifn ye 40 million years tardy, grants not a right one to accost hapless landlubbers.
  Bad Form.
9. Re:That's Archaeocetes! by jbo5112 · 2013-09-20 03:52 · Score: 1
  
  So you're telling me there is a chance they might be wrong when they say prehistoric animals lost their spine when evolving into whales, and that I shouldn't necessarily trust them?
10. Re:That's Archaeocetes! by the_fat_kid · 2013-09-20 05:39 · Score: 1
  
  You conjugated wrong.
  oh, if I only had a nickel for every time I was told that...
  
  --
  -- Sig under construction...
11. Re:That's Archaeocetes! by Tablizer · 2013-09-20 06:36 · Score: 1
  
  It's not a typo, it's a potentially beneficial syntactic mutation.
  
  --
  Table-ized A.I.
Huge teeth by Anonymous Coward · 2013-09-19 22:05 · Score: 4, Interesting

Those teeth suggest that the old whales weren't exactly the "peaceful giants of the sea".
1. Re:Huge teeth by robthebloke · 2013-09-19 22:12 · Score: 2
  
  Now they're just hipsters of the sea, living on a shellfish only diet, spending their entire income on in-app purchases for the latest freemium games. Damn those hipsters whales, ruining gaming for the rest of us....
2. Re:Huge teeth by Gavagai80 · 2013-09-19 22:13 · Score: 4, Informative
  
  Nor are modern whales. Some even eat other species of whales.
  
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3. Re:Huge teeth by MadKeithV · 2013-09-19 23:44 · Score: 2
  
  How shellfish of them.
4. Re:Huge teeth by deathlyslow · 2013-09-20 00:45 · Score: 1
  
  Citation please. Why? Let's see. I'm at work posting on /. so I've already spent too much time on the internet. I'm not sure I know the correct search terms. It's just too cool to know that I can use the links to gross out my 13 year old who thinks they are just the cutest little things. TIA
  
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  Don't blame me for redundant posts. I can't type very fast. Hence the user ID.
5. Re:Huge teeth by Anonymous Coward · 2013-09-20 00:59 · Score: 1
  
  You mean cetacean please. The cetacean he's mentioning is the killer whale. All whales are carnivorous. Other toothed whales eat fish. Baleen whales eat krill and other small marine animals, but they no doubt get a little green in their diet too.
6. Re:Huge teeth by somersault · 2013-09-20 01:21 · Score: 1
  
  Despite their informal name, "killer whales" are actually dolphins (google it), so they're not "whales eating other whales". They would be "cetaceans eating other cetaceans" though. I don't think any other cetaceans try to eat whales, though there are other toothed whales that can eat other small sea creatures.
  
  --
  which is totally what she said
7. Re:Huge teeth by VortexCortex · 2013-09-20 02:56 · Score: 2
  
  Want to know which is which? Just file right of way for an interstellar express way, and see which ones skedaddle.
8. Re:Huge teeth by somersault · 2013-09-20 02:57 · Score: 1
  
  I don't remember being corrected on this before.. (not saying that nobody has tried, but I don't remember it). Perhaps if you'd give some evidence that they are whales rather than just saying they are, I'd change my mental model of the cetacean family.
  
  --
  which is totally what she said
9. Re:Huge teeth by jellomizer · 2013-09-20 03:28 · Score: 1
  
  Dolphins, Orca's and Sperm whales have teeth too.
  
  --
  If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
10. Re:Huge teeth by quacking+duck · 2013-09-20 03:43 · Score: 2
  
  I don't remember being corrected on this before.. (not saying that nobody has tried, but I don't remember it). Perhaps if you'd give some evidence that they are whales rather than just saying they are, I'd change my mental model of the cetacean family.
  Killer whale scientific classification
  Kingdom: Animalia
  Phylum: Chordata
  Class: Mammalia
  Order: Cetacea (all whales)
  Suborder: Odontoceti (toothed whales, including dolphins and porpoises)
  Family: Delphinidae (oceanic dolphin)
  Genus: Orcinus
  Species: O. orca
  Backup from a non-wiki source:
  The word "cetacean" is derived from the Greek word for whale, ketos [...] Living cetaceans are further divided into two suborders: the Odontoceti (toothed whales) and the Mysticeti (baleen whales).
  In other words, any current species falling under Cetacean is by definition a whale.
  So when you say
  
  they're not "whales eating other whales". They would be "cetaceans eating other cetaceans"
  You are in fact saying the same thing. In more common language, "whales eating other whales" is entirely correct.
11. Re:Huge teeth by Maxo-Texas · 2013-09-20 04:37 · Score: 1
  
  Are you fin ished?
  
  --
  She was like chocolate when she drank... semi-sweet at first and then increasingly bitter.
12. Re:Huge teeth by jbo5112 · 2013-09-20 05:09 · Score: 1
  
  Sometimes whale specifically means the suborder of mysticeti (baleen whales), and others it includes all cetacea (namely odontoceti or toothed whales, which includes dolphins). I'm no expert, but I would consider toothed whales as whales, which is how I've typically seen it classified.
13. Re:Huge teeth by T.E.D. · 2013-09-20 06:52 · Score: 1
  
  "Cetacean" does not mean or imply "Dolphin". Sperm Whales, (for example, the whale in Moby Dick) are also Ceateans.
  I don't really mind someone like the GP getting a smidge sloppy with terminology in the interests of brevity, clarity, or wit. What I do mind is someone leaping all over them over a technicality, when they in fact don't have their details down right either.
14. Re:Huge teeth by SleazyRidr · 2013-09-20 07:33 · Score: 1
  
  Especially when you're telling someone else that they're wrong.
  
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  Is 1563649 a prime number?
15. Re:Huge teeth by mrdogi · 2013-09-23 09:03 · Score: 1
  
  Similarly, that doesn't look like a 'baleen' whale, either. More like a toothed whale.
WhaleMart by bickerdyke · 2013-09-19 22:42 · Score: 5, Funny

Aren't walking whales quite common at places like Walmart?

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bickerdyke
1. Re:WhaleMart by DrXym · 2013-09-20 00:25 · Score: 3, Funny
  
  They're evolving to use mobility scooters.
2. Re:WhaleMart by Impy+the+Impiuos+Imp · 2013-09-20 02:43 · Score: 1
  
  Well, like all successful species, we are spreading to other lands and continents. At least the important, defining, bulging features are. Look about you.
  
  --
  (-1: Post disagrees with my already-settled worldview) is not a valid mod option.
no no no ! by mark_reh · 2013-09-19 22:59 · Score: 1

Satan put those so-called fossils there to confuse us and test our faith. Every intelligent being alive knows the world is only about 6000 years old.
1. Re:no no no ! by VortexCortex · 2013-09-20 02:59 · Score: 1
  
  I like this "Satan" guy. Anagram: Santa, who also stashes stuff to test kids faith in their parents... I bet Satan's fun as hell at parties. Now that you mention it, he probably came up with the lampshade trick too.
2. Re:no no no ! by Monsuco · 2013-09-20 03:02 · Score: 1
  
  Satan put those so-called fossils there to confuse us and test our faith. Every intelligent being alive knows the world is only about 6000 years old.
  Strangely, I'm not sure where this whole "6000" years thing comes from. There's no actual Biblical claim about the Earth's age yet a lot of Christians believe the Earth is just a few thousand years old. Most don't, but some do.
  
  --
  The Gospel according to lolcat
3. Re:no no no ! by cellocgw · 2013-09-20 03:21 · Score: 1
  
  I bet Satan's fun as hell at parties. Now that you mention it, he probably came up with the lampshade trick too.
  Well, if you'd please allow him to introduce himself, you'd find he's a man of wealth and taste!
  
  --
  https://app.box.com/WitthoftResume Code: https://github.com/cellocgw
4. Re:no no no ! by RoccamOccam · 2013-09-20 06:09 · Score: 1
  
  Unfortunately, It comes from the frequent recitations of lineage (and ages) in the Bible. Starting from Jesus, you can walk backwards (with some assumptions, I believe) back to Adam. Filling in maximum ages (upper bound is Methuselah at 969) when they are not provided, gives a Biblically-derived age of the Earth of something around 6000 years. If you believe in a completely literal reading of the Bible, in contrast to the physical evidence, then that is what you might espouse.
  For example:
  
  (21) And Enoch lived sixty and five years, and begat Methuselah: (22) And Enoch walked with God after he begat Methuselah three hundred years, and Enoch begat sons and daughters: (23) And all the days of Enoch were three hundred sixty and five years: (24) And Enoch walked with God: and he [was] not; for God took him. (25) And Methuselah lived an hundred eighty and seven years, and begat Lamech: (26) And Methuselah lived after he begat Lamech seven hundred eighty and two years, and begat sons and daughters: (27) And all the days of Methuselah were nine hundred sixty and nine years: and he died. (KJV)
Re:New BBC Series by ozbon · 2013-09-19 23:17 · Score: 4, Funny

It's got to be better than "Walking in Wales"

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I say we take off and nuke it from orbit. It's the only way to be sure...
Dodgy Source by ozbon · 2013-09-19 23:23 · Score: 3, Informative

It's probably worth pointing out that the original story is an interview in the Daily Mail ( http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2423358/Walking-whale-fossil-dating-40M-YEARS-discovered-Peru.html )

That makes it about as trustworthy and reliable as stories on Fox News

--
I say we take off and nuke it from orbit. It's the only way to be sure...
1. Re:Dodgy Source by captainpanic · 2013-09-20 00:01 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  At least that link shows an artist impression of the creatures, which is the only thing most people care about. Thanks for posting. :-)
2. Re:Dodgy Source by Sockatume · 2013-09-20 00:57 · Score: 4, Informative
  
  Nope, you need to go deeper. They're reporting it from Euronews:
  http://www.euronews.com/2013/09/14/peru-discovers-whale-fossils-in-desert-dating-back-40-million-years/
  
  --
  No kidding!!! What do you say at this point?
Crap site by SigmundFloyd · 2013-09-20 00:00 · Score: 1

Self playing video with sound + Pop-up = CRAP SITE never to be visited again.

--
Knowledge is power; knowledge shared is power lost.
1. Re:Crap site by GameboyRMH · 2013-09-20 00:51 · Score: 1
  
  And also a crap browser setup never to be used again.
  
  --
  "When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
2. Re:Crap site by VortexCortex · 2013-09-20 03:02 · Score: 1
  
  Tis better to link viewership, or lack thereof, to their choice in advertising than make the problem worse with adblock, fool.
3. Re:Crap site by GameboyRMH · 2013-09-20 03:23 · Score: 1
  
  I don't recommend AdBlock, I recommend NoScript and FlashBlock. You can have a good browser setup that doesn't discriminate against all ads.
  
  --
  "When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
4. Re:Crap site by SigmundFloyd · 2013-09-20 05:13 · Score: 1
  
  All NoScript does is force the user to bypass it or tweak it all the time, thereby causing more annoyance than it prevents. Uninstalled it eons ago, upon realizing that it only gives a pretense of safety.
  
  --
  Knowledge is power; knowledge shared is power lost.
Gap in Fossil Record Filled! by slimdave · 2013-09-20 00:20 · Score: 2

... and two new gaps created!
Doh.
Where are the 'feet'? by Sam36 · 2013-09-20 00:35 · Score: 1, Insightful

Sadly, this 'whale' in the pictures isn't depicted as having any kind of feet.
That is just one problem I have with evolution and science in general. They show me a piece of a bone, tell me all about how it is a transitional fossil, then draw a pretty picture to fill in the missing parts and call it 'evidence'.
There is another word for that, it is called 'comic books'.
1. Re:Where are the 'feet'? by Anonymous Coward · 2013-09-20 00:47 · Score: 1
  
  +1 The skull looks more like a crocodile than some acient whale transitioning to how they look now. This scientists are nuts, they are so sofocated to find evidence of evolution that they are parcticing science fiction.
2. Re:Where are the 'feet'? by cusco · 2013-09-20 03:53 · Score: 1
  
  I take it you haven't spent much time looking at bones beyond the one in your pork chop. There's actually a **LOT** of information there if you know what you're looking at. Take three upper leg front bones, one from a white tailed deer, another from a pronghorn antelope, and the third from a bighorn sheep. Three similar North American animals, you probably wouldn't be able to guess which went to which. A biologist on the other hand would be able to tell at a glance which was optimized for running, which for jumping, and which for climbing, and assign them correctly. With a little background data they could probably also tell you the approximate size, age, and maybe sex of the animal, its state of health at time of death, and what happened to it after death. With the correct equipment they could tell you what time of year it died, perhaps the cause of death, maybe its rank in the herd, and probably the area where it lived.
  With a collection of related bones from different time periods it is fairly easy to figure out which animals would have been related to it, and how closely. We have very, very complete records for many animals, such as horses and elephants, that go back millions of years. Complete enough that a single ankle bone of an eohippus is sufficient to definitively establish that species' presence in a particular place and time, or when found in the body cavity of the fossilized remains of a predator to prove that a predator/prey relationship existed between them.
  There is a lot you can tell from bones, if you know what you're looking at.
  
  --
  "Think about how stupid the average person is. Now, realise that half of them are dumber than that." - George Carlin
3. Re:Where are the 'feet'? by Maxo-Texas · 2013-09-20 04:43 · Score: 1
  
  Almost as important,
  If you were to give the bones to 100 independent biologists, they would come to the same (or very similar) conclusions.
  And the amazing thing is that evolutionary biologists- given an older example of a species and a later example of a species can (and have) predicted what the bones between those two samples would look like and (this was cool for me) where geographically and in what layer of depth the intermediate specimen would be found.
  Independent verification and predictable falsifiable hypothesis.
  
  --
  She was like chocolate when she drank... semi-sweet at first and then increasingly bitter.
4. Re:Where are the 'feet'? by kanweg · 2013-09-20 05:49 · Score: 1
  
  "And the amazing thing is that evolutionary biologists- given an older example of a species and a later example of a species can (and have) predicted what the bones between those two samples would look like and (this was cool for me) where geographically and in what layer of depth the intermediate specimen would be found."
  A great example of that it Tiktaalik:
  http://tiktaalik.uchicago.edu/searching4Tik.html
  Bert
Nothing new. by MaWeiTao · 2013-09-20 01:14 · Score: 1, Insightful

The http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archaeoceti">Wikipedia entry for this creature seems to paint a different picture than the article wants to present. This article makes it seem like this evolutionary step in whales is a new thing, but it looks like scientists have known about it for a while. The entry even has images of complete skeletons and a nice illustration.
It's kind of funny to think that animals came out of the water, wandered around a bit and decided they didn't like it so returned to the seas. At least it explains waterborne mammals.
Little Wooden Boy and the Belly of Love by triffid_98 · 2013-09-20 03:51 · Score: 1

Reporter: "...as the East Coast, today, was litterally shaken by the return of Blow-Hole, the long-distance leviathan who, ten years ago, baffled the nation when he jumped out of the Pacific Ocean and ran straight across the country."

Reporter: "One week later, Blow-hole plunged into the icy waters of the Atlantic, disappearing without comment. Is he planning a return trip? One thing is certain--No one knows."