🦣 MammalsPaleogeneWell known
Ambulocetus
Ambulocetus natans
Ambulocetus is one of the most important transitional fossils showing how whales evolved from land mammals.
Image: Notafly · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons
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Sites on today's globe · 1 marker
Characteristics
- Scientific name
- Ambulocetus natans
- Period
- Eocene (Lutetian)
- Lived
- 48–47 Ma (48 million years ago)
- Diet
- Carnivore
- Habitat
- Coast, Freshwater
- Length (estimate)
- 3 m
- Discovered/described
- 1994 · Hans Thewissen and colleagues (description)
Description
Ambulocetus ('walking whale') was an early cetacean about three metres long with strong legs and large feet that could both walk and swim. It probably hunted like a crocodile, ambushing prey in shallow water. A single nearly complete skeleton is known.
Habitat
Coastal waters, estuaries and shallow seas on the edge of the Tethys.
Fossil sites
Kala Chitta Hills, Punjab
Kuldana Formation
Cultural profile: Pakistan →
Contemporaries in the database
Sources: Ambulocetus