alphynix:Whalevolution Month #02 – IchthyolestesThe oldest of the pakicetids – the earliest true cet
alphynix:Whalevolution Month #02 – IchthyolestesThe oldest of the pakicetids – the earliest true cetaceans – Ichthyolestes lived about 50 million years ago in northern Pakistan. It stood 40cm tall at the shoulder (1′3″), roughly the same size as a modern red fox, and had a long snout full of sharp carnivorous teeth. It likely preyed on fish and small animals in and around freshwater rivers, although the structure of its limbs suggest it was more of a wader than a swimmer.It was originally described in the 1950s, but at the time was mistakenly classified as a mesonychian – a separate group of carnivorous ungulates that, fittingly enough, were once also thought to be the ancestors of whales. -- source link