Whale Ancestors

The evolutionary path of a whale is a fascinating process of a terrestrial mammal that evolves into a marine mammal. This evolutionary path started with one of the earliest ancestors called “Pakicetus”. A Pakicetus was discovered to be a land animal with four legs that had teeth as carnivores. It skull structure was long, but this organism didn’t look like any marine animal. The scientist then discovered that on the skull’s ear region it was surrounded by a bony wall. This feature on an organism only was distinct from one type of species, scientist discovered that this animal “Pakicetus” was an ancestor of a whale. By comparing the early whales Pakicetus to the next generation of ancestors Ambulocetus, the Ambulocetus whale looks more like

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.

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

After reading the three versions of “Whales”, the third version is the strongest. Its thesis statement is the second sentence of the paper: “Scientists studying whales rate their intelligence on a level with higher primates because of their complex group behavior.” The writer also clearly voices their opinion within the piece. The attitude and tone in “Whales” is a perfected mix of professionalism and personal stance, a balance between fact and opinion. The intended audience may be high schoolers in a classroom because of the paper’s writing style. The language and the rhythm of the piece give it strength. Yet there are weaknesses as well. Some ideas I have to revise it so that it is better includes adding more detail to the fast facts and

The extinction of the beaked whales! Underwater noise is noise that the humans make during experiments underwater, and I am certain underwater noise can effect the extinction of whales, beaked whales, to be exact.

“Around 195 Orcas have died in captivity, in addition to 30 miscarried or still-born whale calves. SeaWorld is a major role in Orca endangerment, holding 23 Orcas across their five parks in the United States: Florida, California, Texas, Virginia, and Pennsylvania”(“The Fate of Captive Orcas.” WDC). SeaWorld’s distinctive entertainment is detrimental to the health of Orcas; bringing stress, frustration, and aggression. Most guests of SeaWorld do not realize the animal abuse that exists in this chain of “marine mammal parks, oceanariums, animal theme parks, and rehabilitation centers owned by SeaWorld Entertainment”

Killer whales, also known as Orca’s, are the largest members of the dolphin family and the top predator in their ecosystem. They are one of the most intelligent marine creatures, especially due to their acute senses of sight and hearing. The word Orca means connection and leadership. People travel from all over the world just to catch a glimpse of the astounding whale. Their beauty has mesmerized humans for generations, but for many Orca’s, captivity limits their freedom and enjoyment of life. In 1965, orca poaching was at its prime. Over a thousand whales were being captured for either greed or for the purpose of captivity (Timeline of Commercial Whaling Muller). Captivity is a prison for many orcas, it not only damages the whale’s health, but also has a negative impact on breeding, and the danger of humans.

Orcas are also known as “killer whale” have hunted their own cousins which is the dolphins. They both have the same intelligence and they have the same speed applied to each other. The Orcas hunt and feed off their family. Their intelligence is the same, but the killer whales are smarter in some ways such as hunting for food. Studies show that the orcas hunts their cousins for food. The orcas “killer whale” has teeth, so they eat larger animals such as squad, dolphins and sharks. Dolphins that eat fish, mackerel, herring and cod do not have teeth. There are some that will eat squad which means these dolphins have

Ambulocetus – Similar to the whale the Ambulocetus was a large animal about 11 feet long. It struggled to walk on land due to its legs being too weak to support its very heavy body, weighing in at about 400 pounds. In the body of the Ambulocetus its legs had yet to evolve into flippers like modern whales therefore, the whale was able to exit a body of water and walk on land. It is likely that this early ancestor had to pull itself forward rather than walking like its previous ancestor the Pakicetus.

Introduction: After analyzing the fossils or preserved remains of whales, scientist have determined that whales have only recently evolved to be the large animals that we know today. Though not sure, the scientist state that the evolutionary shift was due to the increase of ice sheets in the North. This increase in ice caused a shift in the concentration of food available in the ocean, increasing the benefits of having a bigger body. This is important to the scientific community because

You look down into the deep blue ocean while you're whale watching, and you see close to the horizon the white fresh spray of salt water coming out of a Humpback whale, the only Humpback whale. You might wonder where the rest are. These rare incredible creatures have been around for a long time, and is forgotten and could be gone forever and extinct. A Humpback whale is a large marine animal with many humps on its back. These rare animals are in the ocean trying to survive and protect themselves from predators like us. People are doing many things to harm and endanger Humpback whales existence. One thing that is causing them to be endangered is private commercial boats. Private commercial boats are known to strike through humpback whales causing

Beluga whales, known for their white color, are one of the most popular species of whale as well as one of the most threatened. These relatively small whales, only about 14 feet long, are prey for polar bears, killer whales, and humans who hunt them for blubber and skin. White whales are very unique from other whales in that they have flexible necks to allow them to move their head in all directions, no dorsal fin, and are the only whales with all white skin. Aquariums and organizations all over the world have made in effort in protecting these playful whales. Some of the efforts being made include retreiving injured whales and nursing them back to health, breeding belugas in captivity to be released, and housing belugas deemed unfit to return

The multibillion-dollar company that is SeaWorld, regularly has Orca shows in an Olympic size pool, 9 times that. Orcas in the wild need space to move around, and shouldn’t be kept in small spaces for health problems. Many health issues this causes are collapse fins, and dying at a premature age. In the wild, we hardly see Orcas with collapsed fins, only 1% of Orca population have collapse fins. Because of the lack of space man fins get in the way of play. There aren’t bones in their fins, so it can easily bend. Bending in the fin can be passed down in offspring. Even though whale shows bring in a lot of tourism, which helps the economy grow, it doesn’t justify the conditions these whales have to endure in captivity. Orcas in the wild have

Over the millions of years, whales have adapted key traits to stay alive and best natural selection. The forelimbs of whales are modified into flippers, and the hind legs are reduced to internal vestiges. The tail is flattened into horizontal flukes and is used for propulsion. The head is very large, with a wide mouth and no external neck. Whales have one or two nostril openings, called blowholes, located far back on the top of the head; the nostril valves close and the lungs compress when the whale dives. Most whales must surface every 3 to 20 min to breathe, but some, can remain submerged for more than an hour. Whales have small eyes, designed to withstand great pressures, and most species have good vision. Their hearing is also excellent.

The size of a sperm whale is longer than a bus. The sperm whale has the biggest animal brain and it weighs 20 pounds. The giant can swim about 23 MPH. It can hold it breath for about 90 minutes. The lower jaw has 36-50 teeth the top is toothless. Sperm whales migrate. Calves are born tail first and take their first breath within seconds of being born. They learn to swim in 30 minutes. Their teeth are 10 inches long and weigh about 2 pounds each. The best news of all is that sperm whales appear to be thriving in our oceans