The earliest ancestors of whales walked the land when they roamed the Earth 50 million years ago, and new photos reveal that today’s whales still retain an ancient trait of those creatures: finger-shaped appendages.
Whales with ‘hands’?
Assistant professor of vertebrate zoology and herpetology curator at the Natural History Museum of Denmark Mark D. Scherz, dissected a beaked whale that washed ashore earlier this month. After removing the meat from the fins, he discovered the strange appendages. Beneath the interdigital flesh of a whale’s fin are five “fingers” or the pentadactylo limb, which is found in humans, amphibians, and a variety of other animals, and demonstrates a shared common ancestor.
Thus, the strange “fingers” of whales are actually a rather curious demonstration of the peculiarities of evolution.
The whales are descendants of a robust animal the size of a fox with an elongated body and tail, which experts have compared to those of a mini deer. This ancient creature roamed the land and foraged for food in the water until it became fully aquatic. The first evidence found to suggest that whales evolved from a land animal was discovered in Pakistan in 2008. The creature, nicknamed Indohyus , dived into the water like a hippo in search of food and as a means of avoiding predators. , which eventually caused him to switch to a totally aquatic lifestyle.
Upon further analysis, the researchers discovered similarities between the skull and ears of both Indohyus and whales.
(Raw images) The chilling photo was posted on Twitter by herpetology curator Mark D. Scherz.
Scherz also shared a picture of what’s underneath the red and pink meat: five bony fingers.
