Friday, April 05, 2019

Transitional


Interesting new transitional fossil has been discovered in Peru. It's an ancestor of the Whale family but features legs with hooves! A beautiful example of a transitional species that sits in between fully aquatic creatures (like Whales and Dolphins) and semi-aquatic creatures (like Hippos & Otters etc.) It has been known for a long time now that whales and hippos (which still have hooves) are connected via a relatively recent ancestor, although when I say "recent" we're still talking 50 million years ago, which in Human terms is beyond comprehension. Fascinating to contemplate that evolution has taken a population of small hoofed mammals to the blue whales of today, amazing what tiny mutations in DNA replication, natural selection and a few dozen million years can achieve.


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