1. Becoming Whales Whale Evolution: Different Lines of Evidence
by Larry Flammer - ENSI webmaster
(Becoming Whales: Discovery of Whale Fossils)
(Whale Ankles and DNA)
Becoming Whales

2. What type of creature is a whale?
Video

3. Diversity of Whales Today
Mysticetes (baleen whales):

4. Diversity of Whales Today
Odontocetes (toothed whales):

5. But Where Did They Come From?
ONE OF DARWIN’S IDEAS…
… I can see no difficulty in a race of bears being rendered, by natural selection, more and more aquatic in their structure and habits, with larger and larger mouths, till a creature was produced as monstrous as a whale.
Charles Darwin, The Origin of Species, 1859 (first edition), Chapter 6: Difficulties on Theory

6. Let’s go on a whale hunt!

7. Whale Fossils Diagrams…
Work in pairs
On the whiteboard create an Eocene Timeline (55 mya to 34 mya)
Remove whale strips from envelope
Read descriptions and place whale strip on timeline

8. Eocene Epoch Timeline

9. Early Whale Teeth
in Dorudon
~ 36 mya
1936

10. Early Whale Teeth… in a 4-legged mammal?
a Mesonychid called Pachyaena
~ 55 mya
… with tiny hooves!

11. Early Whale Teeth …and hooves, too! ~50 mya WITH LEGS !
Pakicetus - an early whale
~50 mya
Gingerich - Pakistan

12. Early whale teeth in… Basilosaurus ~37mya and LEGS, too…
1990 Gingerich - Egypt

13. Early Whale Teeth ~46 mya Rodhocetus - an early whale
And tiny hooves, too !
~46 mya
early Gingerich - Pakistan

14. On your white board draw a prediction for the animal you would expect to find between 50 mya and 46 mya.

15. Early Whale Teeth… in Pakistan
With tiny hooves, too !
Ambulocetus - the “walking whale”
~48 mya
late 1994 Thewissen

16. Ambulocetus
Carl Buell

17. What is the closest land dwelling relative of whales?

18. Whale Phylogeny, 1994 Hans Thewissen

19. Perissodactyls Odd-Toed Ungulates
Rhinos & Tapirs
Horses & Zebras

20. Artiodactyls Even-Toed Ungulates

21. But WHICH Hooved animals?
Is there a way to demonstrate relatedness between hoofed animals and whales?
40-48: DNA analysis indicates hippos are the most closely related living animals to whales.

22. DNA Analysis Compare segments of beta-casein gene

23. DNA Differences

24. Whale’s Closest Land Dwelling Cousin: Hippos

25. FAREWHALE!