Pakicetus

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Pakicetus
Skeletal reconstruction at the Royal Ontario Museum

Skeletal reconstruction at the Royal Ontario Museum

Temporal occurrence
Eocene
50 million years
Locations
Systematics
Mammals (mammalia)
Higher mammals (Eutheria)
Laurasiatheria
Whales (cetacea)
Pakicetidae
Pakicetus
Scientific name
Pakicetus
Gingerich & Russell 1981

Pakicetus is an extinct genus of early representatives of the whales in the Pakicetidae family. It was still quadruped and livedin South Asia in the early Eocene .

features

Life reconstruction of Pakicetus

Pakicetus was roughly the size of a wolf and had four mammalian limbs. The muzzle was elongated, the nostrils were above the incisors, the eye sockets were high on the head. The arrangement of the cusps of the molars , the structure of the ear and the cranial cavity clearly indicate that they belong to the whales. The limbs were slender, the construction of the ankle was similar to that of today's artifacts . The shoulder and pelvic girdle showed no specific adaptations to aquatic life. However, a thickening of the bones can be seen, which may have served to reduce buoyancy.

Pakicetus , compared to humans

ecology

Pakicetus lived in present-day Pakistan around 50 million years ago in the Eocene . From the fossil record it can be concluded that the bones sank in shallow waters and that the climate at that time was very hot and dry. It is conceivable that Pakicetus was at least temporarily in shallow water. It has fed on meat, but its teeth do not show any special adaptations to fishing.

Systematics

Pakicetus forms with the smaller, but otherwise similarly built Ichthyolestes and Nalacetus the family of Pakicetidae , which is one of the oldest better known whales. The combination of whale and artifacts in this family allows conclusions to be drawn about the external systematics of the whales, see also the significance of the Pakicetidae for research .

literature

  • TS Kemp: The Origin & Evolution of Mammals. Oxford University Press, Oxford 2005. ISBN 0-19-850761-5
  • Philip D. Gingerich, Donald E. Russell: "Pakicetus inachus", a New Archaeocete (Mammalia, Cetacea) from the Early-Middle Eocene Kuldana Formation of Kohat (Pakistan). In: Contributions from the Museum of Paleontology, The University of Michigan. Vol. 25, No. 11, 1981, ISSN  0097-3556 , pp. 235-246, full article text (PDF; 1.54 MB) .

Web links

Commons : Pakicetus  - collection of images, videos and audio files