Fossils of the early land-based ancestors of whales have been unearthed in Pakistan.

Scientists say the creatures were a "missing link" between primitive hoofed mammals and the whale family.





The wolf-sized animals ran about on land 50 million years ago. Other newly found fossils add to the growing picture of how whales evolved from mammals that walked on land. They suggest that early whales used webbed hind legs to swim, and probably lived both on land and in the water about 47 million years ago. The four partial skeletons were discovered by palaeontologists from the United States and Pakistan. Hans Thewissen, of the Northeastern Ohio Universities College of Medicine, Rootstown, US, was a member of the team that found the two oldest fossils. One of these ancient creatures was a wolf-sized predator, another the size of a fox. They belonged to a group called pakicetids. Long snout Professor Thewissen told BBC News Online: "The body looks basically like a large dog. The head has all the features of a whale in the teeth and the ear. "It's different from most land mammals in that the eyes are very close set, the snout is very long and the tail is very muscular and long."





The animals had distinctive ankle bones like those of cloven-hoofed mammals. They also had bones in their ears that are unique to the whale family. The new fossils superbly document the link between modern whales and their land-based forebears, said Christian de Muizon, of the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Paris, France. "The first whale was not swimming but walking on land," he told BBC News Online. Webbed limbs The two other newly found fossils are of later creatures further down the path towards aquatic life. The skeletons are approximately 47 million years old, and also come from Pakistan.



The first whale was not swimming but walking on land

Christian de Muizon