Huge crater and whale-with-feet boneyard named U.N. heritage sites

[emad]

CBC News

The cultural and education arm of the United Nations on Friday added a giant meteorite crater in South Africa and a whale boneyard from the time the creatures had feet among seven new global heritage sites.

The new spots also include two long and deep Norwegian fjords, 244 rugged islands off the coast of Mexico, a forest park in Thailand and the last refuge of the crested eagle off southwest Panama.

The heritage list, which has 188 sites around the world designated for their importance to nature and to culture, is part of a campaign to encourage conservation in host countries.

Nominations are based on a 1972 convention of UNESCO, the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. The agency has 191 member nations.

http://www.cbc.ca/story/science/national/2005/07/15/unesco-050715.html

[htuttle]

1. I was startled to learn that whales once had feet

Dolphins too. In fact, I think there's a skeletal set of fingers and a thumb (!) under their flippers.

So they must have been almost nearly primates (proto-primates) when they took to the water and never came back.

Not sure how the timelines work out, but I've always thought about that fact in the same breath as the so-called 'aquatic ape' theory. (not that Cetaceans were apes, but as an explanation for some quirks of human evolution, like our unique larynx).

Not sure, not sure. Lots of questions...

[Emperor_Norton_II]

2. Primates? No.

More like very large pigs.

Everything you need to know about the ancestry of whales:

Whales are closely related to Mesonychids but not directly derived from them. Mesonychids are a diverse group of proto-hoofed predators which first arose in the late Paleocene Epoch, beginning about 65 million years ago, in the ashes of a world still reeling from the K-T Impact which may have escorted the dinosaurs off the evolutionary stage. They diversified into a number of species. Some of them, especially early on, were the size of a collie, others rank as the largest mammalian land predator to ever tip the scales, such as Andrewsarchus above.

Because of this semi-hoofed ancestry, DNA comparisons, and recent fossil evidence, Whales are now technically classified in the order of Artiodactyls, meaning 'even toed'. This order includes hippos, giraffes, and pigs.

[beam me up scottie]

3. The intelligent design of whales

[oscar111]

4. Been looking for some whales with feet

where can i rent one?

LOL

[beam me up scottie]

6. Try Dinosaur Adventure Land

in Florida.

http://www.dinosauradventureland.com/kidos/index.html

And remember, Evolution is dead.

[oscar111]

5. but protomammals link us to whales, no?

PS how can a whale grab eno oxygen for his cells in one big gulp? before a dive i mean.