WHALE FOSSIL BRIDGES GAP BETWEEN FOOT- AND TAIL-POWERED SWIMMING
A newly-described fossil whale stands for a brand-new species and an important action in the development of whale mobility, scientists record. Researchers recuperated the fossilized remains of Aegicetus gehennae in the Egyptian desert in 2007 and outdated them to about 35 million years back. The animal shows up to have adjusted for swimming through undulation of the mid-body and tail, rather as crocodiles swim today, says Philip Gingerich, teacher emeritus in the planet and ecological sciences division and curator emeritus at the Gallery of Paleontology. The fossil record of whale development tracks the shift from land-dwelling forefathers to ocean-dwelling cetaceans. Protocetids are a team of very early, semi-aquatic whales known from the center of the Eocene, a geological epoch that started 56 million years back and finished 33.9 million years back. Researchers have found Protocetid remains in Africa, Australia or europe, and the Americas. While modern whales are fully aquatic and u