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rhamphotheca: allcreatures: THE GREAT WHITE WHALE! A rare white humpback whale calf breaches in Cid Harbour in the Whitsunday Islands area near Australia’s Great Barrier Reef. An extremely rare white humpback whale calf was spotted near Australia’s Great Barrier Reef in an event witnesses described as a “once in a lifetime experience”. Believed to be just a few weeks old, the baby humpback was seen by local man Wayne Fewings, who was with his family in a boat when he spotted a whale pod.

rhamphotheca:

allcreatures: THE GREAT WHITE WHALE!

A rare white humpback whale calf breaches in Cid Harbour in the Whitsunday Islands area near Australia’s Great Barrier Reef. An extremely rare white humpback whale calf was spotted near Australia’s Great Barrier Reef in an event witnesses described as a “once in a lifetime experience”. Believed to be just a few weeks old, the baby humpback was seen by local man Wayne Fewings, who was with his family in a boat when he spotted a whale pod.

Filed under whale cetacean mammal ocean

64 notes

rhamphotheca: Transitional Whale Species Hunted at Sea, Gave Birth on Land by Brandon Keim Early whales hunted at sea but spent the rest of their time on land, suggest two newly-described fossil whales — one of them a pregnant female — believed to represent a transitional species between earth- and water-bound behemoths.  Dating from 47.5 million years ago, the whales had large teeth suited for consuming fish, and flipper-like limbs that could support their weight on land, albeit awkwardly. The fetal skeleton was positioned for head-first delivery, typically seen in land mammals. Modern whales give birth tail-first. “They clearly were tied to the shore,” said study co-author Philip Gingerich, a University of Michigan paleontologist, in a press release. “They were living at the land-sea interface and going back and forth.” Gingerich’s team dubbed the whales Maiacetus inuus. Maicetus means “mother whale,” and Inuus was a Roman fertility god… (read more: Wired Science) Citation: “New Protocetid Whale from the Middle Eocene of Pakistan: Birth on Land, Precocial Development, and Sexual Dimorphism.” By Philip D. Gingerich, Munir ul-Haq, Wighart von Koenigswald, William J. Sanders, B. Holly Smith and Iyad S. Zalmout. Public Library of Science ONE, Vol. 4 No. 2, Feb. 3, 2009. Image: Maternal M. inuus skeleton, with fetal whale in blue / PLoS ONE

rhamphotheca:

Transitional Whale Species Hunted at Sea, Gave Birth on Land

by Brandon Keim

Early whales hunted at sea but spent the rest of their time on land, suggest two newly-described fossil whales — one of them a pregnant female — believed to represent a transitional species between earth- and water-bound behemoths. 

Dating from 47.5 million years ago, the whales had large teeth suited for consuming fish, and flipper-like limbs that could support their weight on land, albeit awkwardly. The fetal skeleton was positioned for head-first delivery, typically seen in land mammals. Modern whales give birth tail-first.

“They clearly were tied to the shore,” said study co-author Philip Gingerich, a University of Michigan paleontologist, in a press release. “They were living at the land-sea interface and going back and forth.” Gingerich’s team dubbed the whales Maiacetus inuus. Maicetus means “mother whale,” and Inuus was a Roman fertility god…

(read more: Wired Science)

Citation: “New Protocetid Whale from the Middle Eocene of Pakistan: Birth on Land, Precocial Development, and Sexual Dimorphism.” By Philip D. Gingerich, Munir ul-Haq, Wighart von Koenigswald, William J. Sanders, B. Holly Smith and Iyad S. Zalmout. Public Library of Science ONE, Vol. 4 No. 2, Feb. 3, 2009.

Image: Maternal M. inuus skeleton, with fetal whale in blue / PLoS ONE

Filed under fossil skelatal prehistoric whale cetacean mammal ocean