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"Discovery Files" Features from the National Science Foundation
"Distant Whale-tive"
Fully produced report in MP3 format:
48 kbps |
96 kbps
(90 seconds)
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READER SCRIPT
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WHAT WHALES WERE, WHEN WHALES WEREN'T REALLY WHALES... THE "DISCOVERY FILES": NEW ADVANCES IN SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING, FROM THE NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION. WE'VE KNOWN SINCE THE DAYS OF DARWIN THAT WHALES EVOLVED FROM FOUR-FOOTED ANCESTORS THAT WALKED ON LAND; WE COULD JUST NEVER GET A HANDLE ON JUST WHAT THAT ANIMAL WAS. BUT NOW, THE ELUSIVE MISSING MAMMAL HAS SURFACED. THE LAST WHALE RELATIVE--OR "WHALE-TIVE"--TO WALK IS "INDOHYUS"--48-MILLION YEARS OLD, AND LOOKING SOMETHING LIKE A SMALL DEER. IN ADDITION TO SKULL AND EAR SIMILARITIES TO MODERN WHALES, "INDOHYUS" HAD BONES WITH A THICK OUTSIDE LAYER--COMMON TO SEMI-AQUATIC MAMMALS. THE TEAM SAYS THAT THE ASSUMPTION THAT THE WHALE DESCENDED FROM MEAT-EATERS--AND BECAME AQUATIC IN ORDER TO FEED ON FISH--DOESN'T SEEM TO BEAR OUT. "INDOHYUS" WAS A PLANT-EATER, AND ALREADY AQUATIC. THEY BELIEVE THAT THE SHIFT IN DIET CAME LATER IN THE EVOLUTIONARY STAGES. MOST OF THE WHALE'S EVOLUTIONARY JOURNEY HAS BEEN DOCUMENTED THROUGH FOSSIL RECORDS WITHIN THE LAST 15 YEARS. A WHALE OF A FIND, THE "INDOHYUS" SKELETON WAS UNCOVERED IN INDIA, BY A TEAM FROM NORTHEASTERN OHIO UNIVERSITIES COLLEGES OF MEDICINE AND PHARMACY--THE SAME RESEARCHERS RESPONSIBLE FOR MOST OF THE OTHER RECENT EVOLUTIONARY FILL-IN-THE-BLANKS FOR THE LARGEST LIVING MAMMAL. THE "DISCOVERY FILES" COVERS PROJECTS FUNDED BY THE GOVERNMENT'S NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION: FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH BROUGHT TO YOU BY YOU! LEARN MORE AT "N-S-F"-DOT-GOV--OR ON THEIR PODCAST.
For additional "Discovery Files" features from the National Science Foundation, click here.
