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- Cetaceans (whales, dolphins, and porpoises) are an order of mammals that originated about 50 million years ago in the Eocene epoch. Even though all modern cetaceans are obligate aquatic mammals, early cetaceans were amphibious, and their ancestors were terrestrial artiodactyls, similar to small deer.
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May 21, 2007 · Evolutionary highlights are presented, focusing on changes affecting the sensory systems, locomotion, breathing, feeding, and reproduction in Cetacea, Sirenia, Desmostylia, and Pinnipedia. Aquatic adaptations are specifically cited, supported by data from morphological and geochemical studies.
- Mark D. Uhen
- 2007
water came about, one must know how marine mammals are related to one another, and particularly to their terres-trial relatives. A brief introduction to the phylogeny of each group of marine mammals is presented here, based on the latest studies using both morphological and molecular data. CETACEAN PHYLOGENY
A rigorous test for the evolution of marine mammals would use many more species and more characters. But the general result holds: mammals made the transition to water at least three times: in pinnipeds (seals and walruses), in whales, and also in sirenians (dugongs and manatees).
- 1MB
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Oct 18, 2012 · I particularly appreciated the paleoecology section, as it showed how the evolution of marine mammals was deeply intertwined with the past positions of the continents, evolution of Earth’s oceans, and with other oceanographic factors like temperature, salinity, and productivity.
- Mark D. Uhen
- muhen@gmu.edu
- 2013
May 21, 2007 · Evolutionary highlights are presented, focusing on changes affecting the sensory systems, locomotion, breathing, feeding, and reproduction in Cetacea, Sirenia, Desmostylia, and Pinnipedia. Aquatic adaptations are specifically cited, supported by data from morphological and geochemical studies.
- Mark D. Uhen
- 2007
Nov 15, 2019 · Convergent morphological adaptations for an aquatic life (e.g., fusiform body shape, flukes and flippers) evolved separately in the three taxonomic orders of extant marine mammals (Artiodactyla [infraorder Cetacea], Carnivora [clade Pinnipedia and sea otters], and Sirenia).
A review of the broad outlines of what we know about the evolution of marine mammals from their fossil record, and then a focus on three discrete case studies that highlight important ecological transitions and evolutionary transformations that have occurred over the past 50 million years.
