Pakicetus

Uncommon card · No. 118338

Pakicetus (meaning 'whale from Pakistan') is an extinct genus of semi-aquatic cetacean of the family Pakicetidae, which was endemic to South Asia during the Ypresian (early Eocene) period, about 48.5 million years ago. It was a wolf-like mammal, about 1–2 m (3 ft 3 in – 6 ft 7 in) long, and lived in and around water where it ate fish and other animals. The name Pakicetus comes from the fact that the first fossils of this extinct amphibious whale were discovered in Pakistan. The vast majority of paleontologists regard it as the most basal whale, representing a transitional stage between land mammals and whales. It belongs to the even-toed ungulates with the closest living non-cetacean relative being the hippopotamus.

Read on Wikipedia · Image Kevin Guertin from Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, CC BY-SA 2.0