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CAPTAIN BOOTISE, WE RACED RIGHT OVER TO HEAR YOUR TALES! |
WOW! ARE YOU A WHALE DOG? |
NO....JUST A TIME TRAVELLER, |
HERE TO EXPLORE YOUR WONDERFUL PLANET! |
READY TO HEAR WHAT I DISCOVERED? |
WERE'RE JUMPIN' WITH EXCITEMENT! |
OK..LET'S START WITH ITALY AND EGYPT... |
There's an 11th-century castle near the town of Montalcino in Tuscany,Italy.This Castle is called Castello Banfi. |
Paleontologists unearthed a 33-foot-long(10 meter) skeleton of an ancient whale under the vineyards of Castello Banfi! Now Castle Banfi is one of the producers of the famous red wine "Brunello di Montalcino". |
The skeleton is almost complete and well preserved. It kind of resembles the group of large baleen whales that includes the blue, humpback, and fin whales. |
It's estimated that the whale is about five million years old and is from the Pliocene epoch, when Tuscany was the bed of a shallow and warm sea and rich of fauna. |
WOW! CAPTAIN BOOTSIE...TELL US MORE! |
Next we'll go on the other side of the sea to Egypt. Now Egypt may not be the first place you'd look for whales, but once upon a time the Wadi Hitan desert,also known as Whale Valley was underwater and teeming with sea giants! |
It was here in April 2005, geologist Philip D. Gingerich announced his team had excavated the first known nearly complete skeleton of a Basilosaurus Isis. |
A 50-foot,18meters,long, 40 million year old whale fossil! |
The first of the truly gigantic whales, Basilosaurus had the serpentine shape of a sea monster and short, sharp teeth for hunting sharks and other prey. Unlike today's whales, it had no blowhole—the ancient behemoth had to raise its head above water to breathe. What's more, Basilosaurus still had the feet it inherited from its land-dwelling ancestors! |
Wadi Al-Hitan is the most important site in the world to demonstrate one of the iconic changes that make up the record of life on Earth: the evolution of the whales. Your ancestors, guys! |
These fossils represent one of the major stories of evolution: the emergence of the whale as an ocean-going mammal from a previous life as a land-based animal. |
Captain Bootsie, you're saying we once had feet and legs! That's incredible! Any more discoveries with regards to this? |
In fact yes......Nemo |
As you know from your whale studies, it has long been known that whales are mammals that moved to the sea about 50 million years ago. But how they are related to other mammals has been a controversial issue. |
But, whale fossils found in Balochistan Province in Pakistan in 2001 add weight to the second theory: that whales descended from the group of animals known as artiodactyls,whose members include sheep, cows, pigs, camels, deer, and hippos. |
Artiodactyla (Greek artios, entire or even numbered, and dactylos, finger or toe) are named for the even number of fingers and toes (two or four) found on each hand and foot. |
The skeletons found by are about 47 million years old! |
These are pieces of ankle bones found on the ground. |
WOW, Captain Bootsie, we didn't realise our history was so rich! Are you going to continue searching? |
Of course I am...That's what Time Travellers do! |
But for now I must bid you goodbye... I have no idea what the rest of the crew is up to ! |
And if I know Commander Baby Girl, she's up to her neck in mysteries and curses and I must find Commander Ralph! |
Goodbye Captain Bootise...Until next time! |
Now where has my crew gone? Help me search! |
Let's Dive In! |
This article uses material excerpted from Wikipedia®. Article and photos are distributed under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License |
Photo of Captain Bootsie copyright 1999-present by J Shahverdian |
Music from the Album Organique by Xcyril distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.5 Generic |
Fossil Photos courtesy of Dr Philip Gingerich |