Evolution: Mammal and Indohyus Essay

Gregory Moratin M.S142
802 12/7/12

Species occasionally change over time to benefit themselves in the time of an environmental change, this is called adaptation, evidence from the fossil record depicts that some (if not all) species have a common ancestor, and from whom they have evolved into their current form.

-Artist’s rendering of the indohyus-

The indohyus, found to have lived some 48 million years ago, was the ancestor of the common whale, an animal said to jump in rivers to escape prehistoric predators, it soon began to gain gills and it’s arms enlarged into fins while their back legs merged to make a tail, scientists believe that the missing link in the whales evolutionary chain, was the indohyus.

The semi-aquatic, raccoon sized mammal, had a material known as ballast in it’s bones, "It allows them to walk on the bottom of the river without their buoyancy pushing them up and making them float," Hans Thewissen, a paleontologist, said. "So [Indohyus] was also a wader in water. Indohyus is a plant-eater and already aquatic. Apparently the dietary shift to hunting animals [as modern whales do] came later than the habitat shift to water."

However, researchers believe there is another competitor in the way, Anthracotheres, beasts found in the swampy coal-peats of Europe, otherwise known as “coal beasts”. Anthracotheres are believed to be the relatives of the common

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