A recent research revealed a remarkable story of whale evolution—how these magnificent marine mammals transitioned from land-dwelling creatures to ocean rulers through three distinct and rapid ...

This story appears in the August 2010 issue of National Geographic magazine. Thirty-seven million years ago, in the waters of the prehistoric Tethys Ocean, a sinuous, 50-foot-long beast with ...

Early ancestors of the ocean's biggest animals once walked on land. Follow their extraordinary journey from shore to sea. Although whales are expert swimmers and perfectly adapted to life underwater, ...

One of the first cetaceans, Pakicetus, was a goat-sized creature that lived along the banks of lakes and rivers in ...

Call it an unfinished story, but with a plot that's a grabber. It's the tale of an ancient land mammal making its way back to the sea, becoming the forerunner of today's whales. In doing so, it ...

Understanding human evolution through the study of whale evolution Brief definition and history of mammals How did land-based mammals return to the sea? Fossils from "transitional species" trace ...