Episode 492: Basilosaurids
About this episode
This episode explores the extinct whale ancestors known as basilosaurids and their evolutionary significance.
Further reading: Giant early whale Basilosaurus hunted the calves of other whales Show transcript: Welcome to Strange Animals Podcast. I’m your host, Kate Shaw. Let’s look at some extinct whale ancestors this month, basilosaurids. We talked about the ancestors of whales in episode 72, about weird whales. After mosasaurs went extinct at the same time as the non-avian dinosaurs, 66 million years ago, basilosaurids evolved to fill the ecological niche they left. Mosasaurs were big marine reptiles while basilosaurids were big marine mammals, but in many ways basilosaurids looked more like mosasaurs than they did modern whales. Basilosaurids differed from their ancestors in that they were fully aquatic. They didn’t come out of the water at all and probably couldn’t. They did still have hind legs, but they were tiny and scientists think the animal probably only used the legs to help stay in place while mating. The hind legs were really small in comparison to the body, only 14 inches long, or 35 cm, in a 52-foot specimen, or 16 meters. Tyrannosaurus rex would look at that and say, “you’ve got really small legs, bruh.” Its front legs were larger and more flipper-like, although it still…
People in this episode
Host: Katherine Shaw
Topics covered
- basilosaurids
- extinct whales
- marine mammals
- evolution
- paleontology
Keywords
- basilosaurids
- whales
- marine mammals
- evolution
- paleontology
- fossils
- mosasaurs
Mentioned in this episode
Books & works: Strange Animals Podcast
More episodes of Strange Animals Podcast
- Episode 494: Four Water Animals
- Episode 493: NEW The Mystery of Esconichthys and Friends
- Episode 491: The Jumar
- Episode 490: Ipnops and Other Deep-Sea Fish
- Episode 489: Animal Artists
Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the Strange Animals Podcast podcast page.