1
40
1
-
Text
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text.
URL Address
<a href="http://doi.org/10.1038/417163a" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">http://doi.org/10.1038/417163a</a>
Rights
Article information provided for research and reference use only. All rights are retained by the journal listed under publisher and/or the creator(s).
Pages
163-166
Issue
6885
Volume
417
Search for Full-text
Locate full-text within NEOMED Library's e-journal collections
<p>Users with a NEOMED Library login can search for full-text journal articles at the following url: <a href="https://libraryguides.neomed.edu/home">https://libraryguides.neomed.edu/home</a></p>
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Vestibular evidence for the evolution of aquatic behaviour in early cetaceans
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Nature
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2002
2002-05
Subject
The topic of the resource
artiodactyls; bony labyrinth; feet; hearing; inner-ear; locomotor evolution; model; origin; petrosal; Science & Technology - Other Topics; whales
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Spoor F; Bajpal S; Hussaim S T; Kumar K; Thewissen J G M
Description
An account of the resource
Early cetaceans evolved from terrestrial quadrupeds to obligate swimmers, a change that is traditionally studied by functional analysis of the postcranial skeleton(1). Here we assess the evolution of cetacean locomotor behaviour from an independent perspective by looking at the semicircular canal system, one of the main sense organs involved in neural control of locomotion(2). Extant cetaceans are found to be unique in that their canal arc size, corrected for body mass, is approximately three times smaller than in other mammals. This reduces the sensitivity of the canal system, most plausibly to match the fast body rotations that characterize cetacean behaviour. Eocene fossils show that the new sensory regime, incompatible with terrestrial competence, developed quickly and early in cetacean evolution, as soon as the taxa are associated with marine environments. Dedicated agile swimming of cetaceans thus appeared to have originated as a rapid and fundamental shift in locomotion rather than as the gradual transition suggested by postcranial evidence. We hypothesize that the unparalleled modification of the semicircular canal system represented a key 'point of no return' event in early cetacean evolution, leading to full independence from life on land.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
<a href="http://doi.org/10.1038/417163a" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">10.1038/417163a</a>
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Journal Article
2002
artiodactyls
Bajpal S
bony labyrinth
Feet
Hearing
Hussaim S T
inner-ear
Journal Article
Kumar K
locomotor evolution
model
Nature
origin
petrosal
Science & Technology - Other Topics
Spoor F
Thewissen J G M
WHALES