Ancient fossil turns out to be four-legged whale with hooves

VIDEO: https://youtu.be/Ds3jIX1hqUE

Four-legged whale skeleton found in Peru is 43 million years old

Ancient Fossil Turns Out To Be Four-Legged Whale With Hooves: A new extinct species unearthed in Peru is the missing link in cetaceans that returned to the sea – a four-legged, hooved whale. “The evolution of whales is perhaps the best-documented example of macroevolution that we have, with the group going from small, dog-sized, hoofed mammals to the giants of the ocean we know and love today,” said Travis Park, a postdoctoral fellow at the Natural History Museum in London, in a statement. (MORE)

(Apr 4, 2019 09:15 PM)C C Wrote: VIDEO: https://youtu.be/Ds3jIX1hqUE

Four-legged whale skeleton found in Peru is 43 million years old

Ancient Fossil Turns Out To Be Four-Legged Whale With Hooves: A new extinct species unearthed in Peru is the missing link in cetaceans that returned to the sea – a four-legged, hooved whale. “The evolution of whales is perhaps the best-documented example of macroevolution that we have, with the group going from small, dog-sized, hoofed mammals to the giants of the ocean we know and love today,” said Travis Park, a postdoctoral fellow at the Natural History Museum in London, in a statement. (MORE)

Those hooves look like toed feet to me. Did I miss something?

(Apr 5, 2019 07:52 PM)Zinjanthropos Wrote: Those hooves look like toed feet to me. Did I miss something?

This one clarifies such as being "four hooved toes" on each leg (IOW, not like the horse hoof). Which apparently makes the ancestor an Artiodactyla (even number of digits rather than odd-toed).

The horse hoof consists of only a single digit bearing the weight, surrounded by keratin, but thereby still classified as an odd-toed ungulate (Perissodactyla).

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