page_title: Ambulocetus
section_title: Description
hierarchical_section_title: Ambulocetus / Description
caption_attribution_description: English: Life reconstruction of Ambulocetus natans
context_page_description: Ambulocetus is an early cetacean from Pakistan. It had short limbs and large feet used for swimming. Along with other members of Ambulocetidae, it is hypothesized to be a transitional fossil that shows how whales evolved from land-living mammals. While its name stems from the historical hypothesis that it was capable of walking on land, more recent research suggests that it was more aquatic than terrestrial or even fully aquatic like modern cetaceans.
context_section_description: Ambulocetus was probably fully aquatic like modern cetaceans, with a similar thoracic morphology, and it probably swam by undulating its back vertically. Chemical analysis of its teeth shows that it could move between salt and fresh water. It also lacked external ears. Its skull had a long snout and eyes facing sideways (they faced upward in pakicetids), located high on the skull like in modern hippos.
  Several features shared with other basal cetaceans indicate the close affinities of Ambulocetus with these animals; it had an adaptation in the nose that enabled it to swallow underwater, and its periotic bone's structure was like those of whales, enabling it to hear well underwater. In addition, its teeth are similar to those of other early cetaceans.
  Ambulocetus had a feeding morphology similar to that of crocodiles: a long snout, pointed teeth, and strong jaw adductor muscles. Like crocodilians, Ambulocetus probably killed its prey by holding it in its jaw and either drowning it or thrashing it with violent motions. Similar to larger crocodilians, adult Ambulocetus probably were ambush predators that fed on larger fish, aquatic tetrapods and possibly terrestrial animals near the water. In contrast to crocodilians, it may have chewed its prey but probably did minimal food processing with its teeth.
caption: Life reconstruction of Ambulocetus natans
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