Did wolves turn into frogs, which turned into tadpoles, which turned into whales, or was there a temporary stint as a fern in there somewhere? I'm actually looking for the evolutionary path of whales... an explanation about how these big mammals came to have their nostrils on their back.
How did whales get into the water?
Believe it or not, the hippopotamus's closest living relatives on Earth are the whales.
The exact evolutionary path isn't known, but the ancestor of both whales and hippopotami was definitely a land animal, might have been comfortable in water, and was probably quite a bit more similar to a modern hippo than to a modern whale.
I'll go beyond the scientific evidence for a moment to say that it's not that hard to imagine... Think of a hippo-like species (already partly aquatic, with only nostrils and eyes above the water most of the time) evolving to spend more and more time in the water. Eventually there's no more need for land at all, but there's still a need for air...
Reply:I always thought that Calvino's "The Aquatic Uncle" dealt with this quite nicely.
Of course, it could just involve a bit of naughtiness between fish and mammals a few million years ago.
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