the evolution of cetaceans (or whales and dolphins)

i hope i spelt cetaceans right. that would not be a good start.

you know something? the world we live in is ridiculous. sure, look around you, it doesn't look ridiculous at the moment, does it? (if something ridiculous is happening around you, please don't read the previous sentence. thank you.)
well, you wanna know something? whales and dolphins evolved from a deer the size of a housecat, that lived in northwestern india. it likely ran and dove into the water as an escape mechanism from predators, and i guess it met one hell of a predator.
scientists used to think it evolved from a kind of wolf with hooves (yes, a wolf, that had hooves. what about it?) that lived in asia and north america. they thought this because they both had similar looking teeth shapes, but it was realised that they had different leg shapes, and molecular analysis proved it wrong.

the herbivorous indian cat-deer thing evolved into a carnivorous hyena thing that acted like a crocodile. it lived in arid, desert type places, mostly swam in water, but could move around on land if necessary.

the hyenacrocodile adapted a more crocodile appearance. this animal was more or less the same as before, only it was much more reliant on water. it was most likely very slow both on land and water.

that evolved into a thing that looked like an otter mixed with a crocodile. it was likely a very effective swimmer, and was totally dependent on saltwater. the nostrils are beginning to move towards where it will become the blowhole, currently towards the top of the snout.

this evolved into a dolphin thing, with an extra set of fins where the legs would be. in modern dolphins, a birth defect can cause these fins to reappear. in whales, however, it causes a very small set of legs to grow.

and i think we know what happened next. these dolphin thingys eventually splintered off into various shapes and forms, some big, some small, some gigantic.

also, here is a picture of vestigial leg and pelvic bones in a baleen whale skeleton. whales and dolphins have a number of vestigial organs, such as ear pinnae, which serve no function, and slow the creature down significantly. they are important, in land based animal ear function.

so, yeah, the world is ridiculous. and you know what? thank god for that, otherwise it'd be boring.







note: i looked at the wikipedia page for this, its where i got the picture. the dates for the animals are a bit strange, the first animal apparently lived after the second and third. in another website, an article on squidoo,  dates that make more sense are seen. the first was 49MYA (million years ago), the third is 48MYA ( in 1MY, the species turned carnivorous, and lost most of its hair, spending much more time in the water. its not such a big change) the 4th was about 43MYA, and a little bit before, and the 5th was about 35MYA, again, a little before.