Habitat and Geography

 

      The Maiacetus inuus roamed the shores of the Tethys Sea when the Indian Ocean and Mediterranean Sea were continuous. The Maiacetus inuus were preserved in the Habib Rahi formations when the water levels of the Tethys Shttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evolutionary_history_of_lemursea were falling (Gingerich et al. 1998).  The rock structure from the Habib Rahi Formation to the Domanda Formation indicates a shallowing of the marine environment (Gingerich et al. 1998). These lithological changes took place before the final closure of the Tethys Sea and the formation of the Himalaya Mountains (Gingerich et al. 1998). The falling water levels may indicate that the Maiacetus inuus skeletons were preserved near the shore. This Protocetid whale lived during the Middle Eocene in Pakistan (Gingerich et al. 2009).
 

     Forty-seven million years later in Kunvit, an eastern Balochistan Province of Pakihttp://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0004366#pone-0004366-g015stan, three skeletons with four limbs were found in marine sedimentary rocks (Gingerich et al. 2009).  This discovery tells us that the creature was amphibious, living in both water and on land. The coast provided plenty of breeding room and food for the species.  This supports the idea that Maiacetus had enough area to spread out rather than compete with one another for mates and resources (Gingerich et al. 2009). It is hard to really know about the interactions between Maiacetus inuus and other animals because they lived so long ago, but were only recently discovered.

       

      Maiacetus inuus belongs to the family tree of today’s cetaceans, which are a varied group of aquatic mammals including the modern whales and dolphins. Researchers strongly infer that they fed at sea, preying off of fish with their shearing molars, but came ashore to rest and give birth (Gingerich et al. 2009).  Other Protocetidae that lived during the same time as the Maiacetus inuus include, 15 genera and 16 species that lived from South Asia and Africa to North America (Gingerich et al. 2009). All of these species were also found in marine sedimentary rocks.

   

 Continue to learn more about Form and Function.

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