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Ambulocetidae

 

 
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Ambulocetidae
 
 
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Ambulocetidae is a family
Family

Family denotes a group of people affiliated by a common ancestry, affinity or co-residence. Although the concept of consanguinity originally referred to relations by "blood," some cultural anthropology have argued that one must understand the idea of "blood" metaphorically, and that many societies understand 'family' through other concepts r...
 of early cetaceans that still were able to walk on land. The genus Ambulocetus
Ambulocetus

Ambulocetus was an early cetacean from Pakistan that could walk as well as swim. It lived during early Eocene some 50-49 million years ago....
, after which the family is named, is by far the most complete and well-known ambulocetid genus due to the discovery by Thewissen et al. of a partially complete specimen of Ambulocetus
Ambulocetus

Ambulocetus was an early cetacean from Pakistan that could walk as well as swim. It lived during early Eocene some 50-49 million years ago....
 natans. Another genus in the family, Gandakasia
Gandakasia

Gandakasia was a genus of Ambulocetidae from the Eocene epoch. It probably caught its prey near rivers or streams....
, is known only from a single jaw fragment.

Ambulocetid fossils have been found in India and Pakistan, the former coastline of Cimmeria
Cimmerian Plate

The Cimmerian Plate is an ancient tectonic plate that comprises parts of present-day Anatolia, Iran, Afghanistan, Tibet, Indochina and Malay Peninsula regions....
.






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Ambulocetidae is a family
Family

Family denotes a group of people affiliated by a common ancestry, affinity or co-residence. Although the concept of consanguinity originally referred to relations by "blood," some cultural anthropology have argued that one must understand the idea of "blood" metaphorically, and that many societies understand 'family' through other concepts r...
 of early cetaceans that still were able to walk on land. The genus Ambulocetus
Ambulocetus

Ambulocetus was an early cetacean from Pakistan that could walk as well as swim. It lived during early Eocene some 50-49 million years ago....
, after which the family is named, is by far the most complete and well-known ambulocetid genus due to the discovery by Thewissen et al. of a partially complete specimen of Ambulocetus
Ambulocetus

Ambulocetus was an early cetacean from Pakistan that could walk as well as swim. It lived during early Eocene some 50-49 million years ago....
 natans. Another genus in the family, Gandakasia
Gandakasia

Gandakasia was a genus of Ambulocetidae from the Eocene epoch. It probably caught its prey near rivers or streams....
, is known only from a single jaw fragment.

Ambulocetid fossils have been found in India and Pakistan, the former coastline of Cimmeria
Cimmerian Plate

The Cimmerian Plate is an ancient tectonic plate that comprises parts of present-day Anatolia, Iran, Afghanistan, Tibet, Indochina and Malay Peninsula regions....
. The sedimentary facies in which these fossils were found indicates that ambulocetids inhabited a shallow, swampy nearshore marine environment.

See also

  • Evolution of cetaceans
    Evolution of cetaceans

    The cetaceans are descendants of land-living mammals. Their terrestrial origins are specifically indicated by:* Their need to breathe air from the surface;...