What kind of animals were the ancestors of whales?

Whales are about 80 species of placental mammals living in oceans and rivers of mammals. From the point of view of biochemistry and genetics, whales are closely related to hoofed mammals. And the fossil record (about 50 million years ago) also supports that cetaceans evolved from hoofed animals. Let's take a look at what the ancestors of whales were.

What kind of animals were the ancestors of whales?

The ancestors of whales are most likely to be terrestrial hoofed animals from North America, Europe and Asia-the family Cephalidae, whose members are as small as domestic dogs and as tall as bears, but many animals have evolved from small to large, so cetaceans may have evolved from small middle claws. It is speculated that these small teeth in shallow water fishing in the middle claw gradually transformed into amphibious life, and then in the long process of evolution into today's whales and dolphins.

What was the first whale to appear?

The earliest cetaceans are Procetaceae, which all appeared 50 million years ago. Fossils are distributed in Asia, Africa and North America. Scientists know more about the ancient Pakistani whale found in Pakistan today. This fossil, which lived between 5000 and 53 million years ago, is an animal with a long, narrow brain chamber that has moved to the rear, and still has hind limbs. Fossil evidence found in Indian rocks at the same time also shows that there are unimaginably high ecological differences among early cetaceans.

What is the status of the whale population?

Due to environmental degradation and massive human hunting, whale members, especially some large members, are widely hunted because of their high economic value, and many cetaceans are on the verge of extinction. The International Whaling Commission (IWC) is an international organization responsible for managing whaling and whale conservation. After the sharp decline in whale populations caused by commercial whaling, IWC decided to take action to protect whales, including a temporary ban on commercial whaling since 1986. Indian Ocean Whale reserves and Southern Ocean Whale reserves were established in 1979 and 1994, respectively. Because Japan, Norway and other countries have taken advantage of loopholes in the IWC resolution, more than 25000 whales have been killed under the banner of "scientific whaling". Currently whaling countries also include Norway, Iceland and Japan, as well as some indigenous tribes in Siberia, Alaska and Northern Canada.