The Walking Whales: From Land to Water in Eight Million Years

256 Pages·5.363 MB·English

by  J. G. M. "Hans" Thewissen

The Walking Whales
From Land to Water in Eight
Million Years
J. G. M. “Hans” Thewissen
with illustrations by Jacqueline Dillard
university of california press
The Walking Whales

The Walking Whales
From Land to Water in Eight
Million Years
J. G. M. “Hans” Thewissen
with illustrations by Jacqueline Dillard
university of california press
University of California Press, one of the most
distinguished university presses in the United States,
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activities are supported by the UC Press Foundation and
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University of California Press
Oakland, California
© 2014 by The Regents of the University of California
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Thewissen, J. G. M., author.
The walking whales : from land to water in eight
million years / J.G.M. Thewissen ; with illustrations by
Jacqueline Dillard.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
isbn 978-0-520-27706-9 (cloth : alk. paper)—
isbn 978-0-520-95941-5 (e-book)
1. Whales, Fossil—Pakistan. 2. Whales, Fossil—India.
3. Whales—Evolution. 4. Paleontology—Pakistan.
5. Paleontology—India. I. Title.
QE882.C5T484 2015
569′.5—dc23
2014003531
Printed in China
23 22 21 20 19 18 17 16 15 14
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum
requirements of ansi/niso z39.48–1992 (r 2002)
(Permanence of Paper).
Cover illustration (clockwise from top right):
Basilosaurus, Ambulocetus, Indohyus, Pakicetus, and
Kutchicetus. These are the animals that show that whales
once had land-living ancestors. The background of this
painting is a composite: these animals did not live in the
same habitat or the at the same time.
This book is dedicated to all the students, postdocs,
fossil preparators, and technicians who worked in my
lab and made this journey scientifi cally exciting as
well as fun, in chronological order: Sandy, Ellen, Tony,
Mary, Lauren, Mary Elizabeth, Amy, Lisa, Brooke,
Sirpa, Rick, Bobbi Jo, Meghan, Sharon, Jenny, Denise,
Summer, and Ashley. And it is dedicated to Elizabeth,
for her encouragement. And it is dedicated to my
mother, who supported everything I did
enthusiastically.

Contents
1. A Wasted Dig 1
Fossils and War 1
A Whale Ear 4
2. Fish, Mammal, or Dinosaur? 9
The King Lizard of Cape Cod 9
Basilosaurid Whales* 17
Basilosaurids and Evolution 33
3. A Whale with Legs 35
The Black and White Hills 35
A Walking Whale 41
4. Learning to Swim 51
Meeting the Killer Whale 51
From Dog-Paddle to Torpedo 52
Ambulocetid Whales* 58
Ambulocetus and Evolution 65
5. When the Mountains Grew 67
The High Himalayas 67
Kidnapping in the Hills 75
Indian Whales 78
viii | Contents
6. Passage to India 79
Stranded in Delhi 79
Whales in the Desert 85
A 150-Pound Skull 87
7. A Trip to the Beach 93
The Outer Banks 93
A Fossilized Coast 96
8. The Otter Whale 99
The Whale with No Hands 99
Remingtonocetid Whales* 109
Building a Beast out of Bones 116
9. The Ocean Is a Desert 117
Forensic Paleontology 117
Drinking and Peeing 120
Fossilized Drinking Behavior 121
Walking with Ambulocetus 124
10. The Skeleton Puzzle 127
If Looks Could Kill 127
How Many Bones Make a Skeleton? 129
Finding Whales’ Sisters 132
11. The River Whales 137
Hearing in Whales 137
Pakicetid Whales* 144
September 11, 2001 154
12. Whales Conquer the World 157
A Molecular SINE 157
The Black Whale 160
Protocetid Whales* 163
Protocetids and History 171
13. From Embryos to Evolution 173
A Dolphin with Legs 173
The Marine Park at Taiji 175
Contents | ix
Shedding Limbs 177
Whaling in Taiji 187
14. Before Whales 191
The Widow’s Fossils 191
The Ancestors of Whales 198
Indohyus* 199
A Trust for Fossils 206
15. The Way Forward 207
The Big Question 207
Tooth Development 209
Baleen as Teeth 211
Notes 213
Index 233
*These six headings summarize the biology of the six fossil groups that form the tran-
sition between whales and their terrestrial ancestors. Their relationships to each other and
to the living families of cetaceans (whales, dolphins, and porpoises) are given in fi gure 66.