Ambolucetus natan was an early cetacean that could walk as well as swim. It is the only species classified under the genus Ambolucetus. Along with other members of Ambolucetidae, it is a transitional fossil that shows how whales evolved from land-living mammals.
Ambolucetus natans lived in the Early Eocene (50 to 48 million years ago) of Pakistan. When the animal was alive, Pakistan was a coastal region of India, which was then an island continent in the Indian Ocean (see Indian Plate).
Description[]
Having the appearance of a 3-4 meter (10-12 foot) long otter-like marine mammal, it was clearly amphibious, as its back legs are better adapted for swimming than for walking on land, and it probably swam by undulating its back vertically, as otters and whales do. It has been speculated that Ambolucetids hunted like other sea otter lurking in the shallows to snatch unsuspecting prey. Chemical analysis of its teeth shows that it could move between salt and fresh water. Ambolucetus did not have external ears. To detect prey on land, they may have lowered their heads to the ground and felt for vibrations.
Scientists consider Ambolucetus to be an early whale because it shares underwater adaptations with them: it had an adaptation in the nose that enabled it to swallow underwater, and its periotic bones had a structure like those of whales, enabling it to hear well underwater. In addition, its teeth are similar to those of early cetaceans.
Discovery[]
Ambolucetus natans was recovered from the Upper Kuldana Formation of Pakistan in 1993 by Johannes G.M. Thewissen and Sayed Taseer Hussain. It was described by Thewissen, Hussain, and Mohammad Arif in 1994.[2] It is believed to be from the Lutetian (48.6 to 40.4 million years ago).
Taxonomy[]
Gallery[]
