Evolution Of Whales Essay

Killer whales, also known as Orcas, are very vocal animals and spend their time partaking in clicks, whistles, and pulsed calls. These giants can be found in nearly all oceans due to their migration patterns. Orcas have an unmistakable black and white patterning, making them easier to identify. The Orca is an apex predator, meaning that they are at the top of their food chain. They have been known to feast upon sea birds, squid, octopus, sea turtles, sharks, rays, and fish.

As mammals, they also give birth to a live animal, called a whale calf. Unlike humans, who can take around one year to learn how to walk, whale calves are born already able to swim.

For several years, Americans have been visiting amusement parks, like SeaWorld and Six Flags, to observe large animals like orcas, also known as killer whales. These whales are quite difficult to view in the wild, but can now be seen for a simple fee. Orcas are known to be one of the smartest mammals. They are friendly, and this has caused people to take advantage of them. For the past sixty years, people have brought these massive creatures into their aquariums to make a profit from their exhibitions. Often, without considering the orcas' quality of life. While kept in captivity, killer whales are forced to do many tricks they normally wouldn’t do in the wild. Over the years, there have been numerous controversies regarding killer whales

This cycle continued until the whale’s ancestors slowly evolved to live only on water through almost half a billion years and many

Recent evidence suggests that whales may not have always inhabited the oceans. Bones of an ancient ancestor of modern day whales, the Basilosaurus, were discovered in Pakistan that suggest whales evolved from a wolf-like creature. This genus of an early whale lived 34-40 million years ago in the late Eocene. These fossils show many different features in common with both modern day whales and modern day land mammals. Since the discovery of these bones, many other evidences show that whales are a likely descendant of the Basilosaurus through many different ways, such as embryologic comparison and DNA testing. Whales aren’t the only suspected descendants

Killer whales are one of the most fascinating displays of ocean life. The killer whale has characteristics that are important to its survival in the ocean. It is interesting to know that killer whales have a plentiful diet. It is astounding to see how killer whales behave in the ocean. I plan to tell you about the killer whale, its characteristics, its diet, and its behavior in the ocean as well as the predation of the orca.

Without a strong long distance swim, a whale’s dorsal fin becomes weakened and will eventually either look bent, curve to the side, or break off.

They move by swinging their tails. Though they are heavy , they move quickly. In winter , they will swim from the Arctic Ocean to the South Pacific . In South worm sea area, whale mother gives birth to whale baby. Then in summer, they will return their home.

Scientists have found full whale fossils and clams of six hundred and fifty pounds on top of the Andes Mountains. These whales had to have been swimming at that kind of level for them to rest on the mountains and get buried rapidly. Some of the whales were buried while eating while others were buried giving birth. This is an indication that a rapid and fast water and sediment came through at one point of time. One paleontologist found a million year old whale in the California Mountains.

A whale fall is a carcass of a dead whale that has dropped to the bottom of the ocean, providing a massive input of energy where there isn’t a lot of food. As decomposing bacteria increase, smells are emitted and circulate through the deep ocean currents, allowing scavenger and other organisms to pick up and follow the scent. Sharks, hagfish, and anthropoids strip the flesh down to the bone. In time, osedax worms, which live and feed on the bones, and symbiotic bacteria, which break down what’s left, extract organic compounds from the whale skeleton. This organic material is transported via deep ocean currents, providing nutrients in an area that is generally very food-limited.

Why Whales Lost Their Legs Kiara Rojas Honors Biology INTRODUCTION Millions of years ago, whales had legs. Pakicetus, the first whales, were land animals. Pakicetus does not resemble the whale at all from the outside but, they share a similar ear region that is unlike those of any other mammal. This discovery provided evidence that Pakicetus and whales are linked. The question is, why did whale lose their legs?

Around fifty million years ago there once roamed a hungry land animal who wandered in search of food. Through the process of evolution this creature resembled fish. It was warm blooded mammal and it was able to breathe air through it lungs. From a walking land creature over time it became the master of the oceans that we now know as the whale.

Dolphins have been around a lot longer than humans. They originated about 50 million years ago. The most common dolphin, being the bottlenose dolphin, has been around for 15 million years. Surprisingly, dolphins originated from members of the cetaceans group. Cetaceans used to be land mammals but evolved into being aquatic mammals. In From Land to Water it stated, “The transition from land to water is documented by a series of intermediate fossils from India and Pakistan.” This research helps prove how they used to be land mammals but evolved to live in the ocean. Dolphins are one out of many aquatic mammals who need oxygen, but they need water in order to live. Believe it or not, dolphins are somewhat related to hippos, camels, deer, cattle, and giraffes. In From Land to Water, “ Many features that are

The whales that are living today, evolved from a four legged animal that had hair all over its body. This hairy mammal was also known as the Pakicetus that lived 50 million years ago. The evolution of this mammal’s transition into the marine mammal they are today, began when it started feeding on the abundance of food surrounded on shallow parts of the water’s edge. This small change of diet quickly led to an amphibious life, very similar to the fur whale of today. Gradually marine life started adapting their environments all so differently. Whale started to form a tail that was helpful for swimming. The hair that the Pakicetus had slowly disappeared. The eyes and kidneys of the whale became more adapted to the different salt levels, and the

The origin of modern day whales, a mystery that has puzzled paleontologists for years, may have just been solved with the discovery of an ankle bone. This discovery might sound simple and unimportant, but the bones of these ancient animals hold many unanswered questions and provide solid proof of origin and behavior. The relationship between whales and other animals has proven to be difficult because whales are warm-blooded, like humans, yet they live in the sea. The fact that they are warm-blooded suggests that they are related to some type of land animal. However, the questions of exactly which animal, and how whales evolved from land to water, have remained unanswered until now.