|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
| |
By Category |
 |
|
|
| |
|
| |
| |
India On Media |
|
|
|
| |
|
| |
|
|
| Others
News |
|
| Whales evolved in India: Scientists |
| In a new discovery from India, Indohyus, an ancient mammal walked in India 48 million years ago.
|
| INDIA
, 20-December-2007
0:48:19 AM |
| Scientists since the times of Charles Darwin have known that ancestors of Whales must have been land-walking mammals but nobody knew who these ancient animals were or where the Whales actually evolved on the globe. Now Indian scientists have some answers, which suggest that Whales actually evolved in India.
It is hard to imagine that the ancestors of these graceful giants of the oceans, the Whales, were land dwelling deer-like animals.
In a new discovery from India, Indohyus, an ancient mammal walked in India 48 million years ago.
The fossils were discovered by two Indian scientists who were part of an Indo-American team that went about unraveling the mystery surrounding the origin of whales.
They collected these fossils from the Kalakot region of Jammu and Kashmir, which was once partly under the sea.
This discovery completes the missing link that scientists were long hoping to unravel.
Fossil hunters B N Tiwari from the Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology, Dehra Dun and Sunil Bajpai from IIT, Roorkee were part of the global team that published its findings in the latest issue of the prestigious British journal Nature.
''Whale origin was a dramatic evolutionary event when an animal with four legs moved from land to sea. Our research of over the past ten years or more has shown that the Whales originated in the Indian subcontinent. This work confirms that conclusion, we have identified the closest relation of fossil Whales,'' said Dr Sunil Bajpai, Department of Earth Sciences IIT, Roorkee.
With funding from the Department of Science and Technology, this team was able to conclude that the fossils from Kashmir and Bajpai's own collection of more recent Whale fossils from Kutch in Gujarat bore key similarities to Indohyus, the vegetarian ancestor to fish eating Whales.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
ADVERTISEMENTS
Free offer!!! Become an administrator for your zip home page, "Post" local news (local to your postcode)& pictures, "Post" advertisement banners from local companies. Make Extra money.
|
 |
 |
|
|
| |
|
