At a time when prey was running short on land, some mammals turned to the sea for food. Formerly a land mammal, ambulocetus learned to hunt mainly in the water, waiting patiently at the shoreline or riverbank for prey to wander by. As time passed this ancient creature dove deeper, and is considered the ancestor of the modern whale. Ambulocetus helped scientists solve the mystery of how some mammals went from living on land to living in the sea.
Keep it Down: When this beast sprang an ambush, its cone-shaped teeth stabbed deeply into prey to hold them in its jaws. Then, ambulocetus dragged its victims underwater to drown them.
Ambush: Ambulocetus was a type of ancient whale, but the creature looked and hunted more like a crocodile. The aquatic mammal waited near the shore and charged out to grab animals that passed by.
From Shore To Sea[]
This ancestor of the modern whale started out on land and adapted to water.
Ambulocetus is the possible "missing link" between land mammals and whales. The creature's fossils were found in what used to be the coast of the Tethys Sea, and experts were shocked to find several adaptations to living in water. Its short feet would have worked well as paddles and were equipped with webbing, plus the creature had valves in its nose that closed so it could swallow while submerged; that's the same adaptation that modern whales have. This creature helped prove that whales evolved from land-dwelling mammals.
Eh?: Ambulocetus had s-shaped bones in its inner-ears that let the creature detect sounds underwater and kept it from becoming dizzy if it made an acrobatic move; modern sea mammals have the same inner-ear structure.
Made Fresh: Experts that have studied the ambulocetus' teeth found that they're designed more like those of freshwater creatures than like those of sea creatures. Ambulocetus probably gave birth to its young in rivers and could swim into freshwater or saltwater any time it liked.
Timeline[]
Ambulocetus lived between 50 and 49 million years ago, during the Tertiary Period.
Trivia[]
- The ambulocetus is one of two featured cetaceans which could/can be found in freshwater, alongside River Dolphins.
- The ambulocetus is featured on several Monster Mania cards:
- It is first featured in Find the Fish on Monster Mania 99.
- It is then in Fossil Finders on Monster Mania 104.
- The image of its fossil on the back of the knowledge card is used for the game.
- Ambulocetus is one of the four Monsters of the Past to not have a Trading Card, the other three being Parasaurolophus, Oviraptor, and Mussaurus.
- Ambulocetus is the only one to not be a Dinosaur.