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Could whales, or other marine mammals return to land-life; or at least an amphibious nich?
Topic Started: Jan 20 2011, 08:37 AM (1,671 Views)
lone shee
Fetus
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Yes, I know probably not, but could they?
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Zoroaster
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Fecund Fundiment
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JohnFaa
Feb 12 2011, 03:17 PM
Magoo
Feb 12 2011, 09:53 AM
thinking about what Parasky's said - I'd agree - possible remotely - plausible no...

Australia once had freshwater dolphins, and Australia's megafauna predators were pretty thin on the ground - but no dolphin or fur seal ever climbed out of the water to take on a terrestrial niche here...
I am now curious; could you indicate me the source that claims the existence of ancient australian freshwater dolphins?
This might have been superceded - I refer back to "Kadimakara". a book about Austrailian paleo-fauna (Kadimakara - Extinct Vertebrates of Australia - by P V Rich, G F Van Test and F Knight - copyright 1985 ISBN 0 909674 26 4)

Page 259 :

Rhabdosteidae

Class: Mammalia
Infraclass : Placentalia
Order : Cetacea
Suborder : Odondoceti
Family : Rhabdosteidae
Genus and Species : Indeterminate (at present - copyright 1985)
Age : Middle Miocene

Fossil found Lake Frome South Australia, 1971. Only known from fossils of ear bones - perhaps in the interim they've been re-classified?

Australia also had populations of large robust flamingoes.
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Carlos
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Adveho in me Lucifero
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Well, ceteacean ear bones are unique, so I suppose it IS a cetacean.
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FallingWhale
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Prime Specimen
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Porpoises aren't the smallest cetacea. The shoulders would pop out if a dolphin/porpoise tried to drag itself; that's why a whale too small to die under its own weight can't save itself.
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