Whales may have evolved from raccoon-sized creature

Friday, December 21st, 2007

Whales may have evolved from raccoon-sized creature:

In the search for a missing evolutionary link to modern whales, scientists have come up with an unlikely land cousin — a raccoon-sized creature with the body of a small deer.

Prior molecular studies have proposed the hippo as the closest land relative of today’s whales, but researchers reporting in the journal Nature on Wednesday suggest a four-footed creature from India known as Indohyus, which probably hid in water in times of danger.

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