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Hans Thewissen, a leading researcher in the field of whale paleontology and anatomy, gives a sweeping first-person account of the discoveries that brought to light the early fossil record of whales. As evidenced in the record, whales evolved from herbivorous forest-dwelling ancestors that resembled tiny deer to carnivorous monsters stalking lakes and rivers and to serpentlike denizens of the coast. Thewissen reports on his discoveries in the wilds of India and Pakistan, weaving a narrative that reveals the day-to-day adventures of fossil collection, enriching it with local flavors from South Asian culture and society. The reader senses the excitement of the digs as well as the rigors faced by scientific researchers, for whom each new insight gives rise to even more questions, and for whom at times the logistics of just staying alive may trump all science.
List of contents
1. A Wasted Dig Fossils and War A Whale Ear 2. Fish, Mammal, or Dinosaur? The King Lizard of Cape Cod Basilosaurid Whales* Basilosaurids and Evolution 3. A Whale with Legs The Black and White Hills A Walking Whale 4. Learning to Swim Meeting the Killer Whale From Dog-Paddle to Torpedo Ambulocetid Whales* Ambulocetus and Evolution 5. When the Mountains Grew The High Himalayas Kidnapping in the Hills Indian Whales 6. Passage to India Stranded in Delhi Whales in the Desert A 150-Pound Skull 7. A Trip to the Beach The Outer Banks A Fossilized Coast 8. The Otter Whale The Whale with No Hands Remingtonocetid Whales* Building a Beast out of Bones 9. The Ocean Is a Desert Forensic Paleontology Drinking and Peeing Fossilized Drinking Behavior Walking with Ambulocetus 10. The Skeleton Puzzle If Looks Could Kill How Many Bones Make a Skeleton? Finding Whales' Sisters 11. The River Whales Hearing in Whales Pakicetid Whales* September 11, 2001 12. Whales Conquer the World A Molecular SINE The Black Whale Protocetid Whales* Protocetids and History 13. From Embryos to Evolution A Dolphin with Legs The Marine Park at Taiji Shedding Limbs Whaling in Taiji 14. Before Whales The Widow's Fossils The Ancestors of Whales Indohyus* A Trust for Fossils 15. The Way Forward The Big Question Tooth Development Baleen as Teeth Notes Index *These six headings summarize the biology of the six fossil groups that form the transition between whales and their terrestrial ancestors. Their relationships to each other and to the living families of cetaceans (whales, dolphins, and porpoises) are given in figure 66.
About the author
J. G. M. "Hans" Thewissen is Ingalls-Brown Endowed Professor in the Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology at Northeast Ohio Medical University. His main research interest is the study of whales, particularly their adaptations to life in water and their origin as land mammals. He discovered in 1994 the skeleton of the first-known whale that could walk on land (Ambulocetus), and he has led more than ten field expeditions each to Pakistan and India, collecting fossil whales. He is coeditor of Encyclopedia of Marine Mammals (2002), Emergence of Whales (1998), and Sensory Evolution on the Threshold (UC Press, 2008).
Summary
Gives an account of the discoveries that brought to light the early fossil record of whales. This title helps reader senses the excitement of the digs as well as the rigors faced by scientific researchers, for whom each new insight gives rise to even more questions, and for whom at times the logistics of just staying alive may trump all science.
