Jeremy Shere

You know what’s weird? Evolution. Sometimes it leads to the most bizarre outcomes. For example, most archeologists think that whales evolved from early hippos, which makes sense since whales and hippos kind of, sort of, have similar features and both are mammals that spend most of their time under water.

But new fossil evidence suggests that whales may have evolved from a completely different creature: a, large, water-dwelling, raccoon-sized, rat-like animal called Indohyus that 50 million years ago lived in the area that is now northern India.

The scientist making the case is Hans Thewissen, a professor of anatomy at Northeastern Ohio Universities College of Medicine. Here’s his spiel . . .

First, there’s a problem with the hippos to whales hypothesis, namely that early hippos lived in the wrong part of the world (Africa) and came on the scene too recently in the evolutionary timeline to have come before whales.

Next, Thewissen claims that the rat-like Indohyus has a thickened earbone–a feature found today only in whales. Also, Indohyu’s teeth–it’s molars, specifically–link it to ancient whales. Finally, the Indohyus fossils come from India, where whales are known to have originated.

Thewissen’s theory is by no means a slam dunk. In fact, plenty of scientists have serious doubts about the water rat-to-whale hypothesis. For one thing, there’s still a lot of compelling evidence linking whales and hippos. Also, Thewissen used a compositie skeleton to study Indohysus, instead of a complete skeleton from a single animal. So until further studies of other specimens have verified Thewiseen’s theory, the jury is very much out on whale evolution.

Source: Discovery News