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Description
I made this illustration for a blog post about the reconstruction of archaeocetes. Since the very earliest times of paleontology, archaeocetes like Basilosaurus and Dorudon (and several other prehistoric whales as well) are quite often depicted in very strange ways, looking often quite reptilian, with heads which are not more than slightly with skin covered skulls.

But looking at modern whales, both baleen whales and toothed whales and other marine mammals like seals as well, this doesn´t make any sense at all. All normal terrestrial animals have lips, and (except some few oddballs like Ganges River dolphins) whales have lips which fully cover their upper teeth too. Even in species with quite large teeth like orcas or false killer whales, the upper teeth are fully covered by lips, and in the more posterior part of the mouth by "cheeks". For this reason upper teeth aren´t visible at all from the sides, otherwise they couldn´t fully close their mouths, which would be all the time in contact with the surrounding water. Furthermore, the corner of the mouth is not as backwards as their skulls could make us think.

Mammals have usually a complex system of cartilages, muscles and other soft tissue in front of their nasal openings, so there is absolutely no reason to think that archaeocetes had noses which were exactly the shape of the skull. Modern rorquals have only quite few soft tissue on the upside of their skulls, and are among all modern whales probably the best comparison for archaeocete-noses. This rorqual nostrils are quite fleshy and compact structures, which are (not surprisingly if you think about it) in front of the nasal opening of the skull.

Another anatomical trait I wanted to illustrate is the neck. Why are archaeocetes so often depicted with skinny necks? Is there any logical assumption for this? Evolving more fat around the neck would requite a minimum of selection, as not even the development of new organs would be required, only a slight change of fat deposition. A fatter neck would result in a more streamlined body shape and in lesser heat loss. Even quite primitive whales like Dorudon were fully marine and already better adapted to the sea than any modern seal, which also have all quite fat necks, which give them more streamlined shapes and better heat insulation. So it´s quite logical to assume that even quite early whales had most probably a lot of fat in the neck area, so the head and the body was much lesser marked-off from each other than often shown.

So if those early whales had upper lips, cheek-like structures, nasal soft-tissue and fat necks, they didn´t really look like reptilians any more, but like something already quite close to modern whales.

For more information and much more photos about this topic, take a look at my blog: bestiarium.kryptozoologie.net/…

Description
I made this illustration for a blog post about the reconstruction of archaeocetes. Since the very earliest times of paleontology, archaeocetes like Basilosaurus and Dorudon (and several other prehistoric whales as well) are quite often depicted in very strange ways, looking often quite reptilian, with heads which are not more than slightly with skin covered skulls.

But looking at modern whales, both baleen whales and toothed whales and other marine mammals like seals as well, this doesn´t make any sense at all. All normal terrestrial animals have lips, and (except some few oddballs like Ganges River dolphins) whales have lips which fully cover their upper teeth too. Even in species with quite large teeth like orcas or false killer whales, the upper teeth are fully covered by lips, and in the more posterior part of the mouth by "cheeks". For this reason upper teeth aren´t visible at all from the sides, otherwise they couldn´t fully close their mouths, which would be all the time in contact with the surrounding water. Furthermore, the corner of the mouth is not as backwards as their skulls could make us think.

Mammals have usually a complex system of cartilages, muscles and other soft tissue in front of their nasal openings, so there is absolutely no reason to think that archaeocetes had noses which were exactly the shape of the skull. Modern rorquals have only quite few soft tissue on the upside of their skulls, and are among all modern whales probably the best comparison for archaeocete-noses. This rorqual nostrils are quite fleshy and compact structures, which are (not surprisingly if you think about it) in front of the nasal opening of the skull.

Another anatomical trait I wanted to illustrate is the neck. Why are archaeocetes so often depicted with skinny necks? Is there any logical assumption for this? Evolving more fat around the neck would requite a minimum of selection, as not even the development of new organs would be required, only a slight change of fat deposition. A fatter neck would result in a more streamlined body shape and in lesser heat loss. Even quite primitive whales like Dorudon were fully marine and already better adapted to the sea than any modern seal, which also have all quite fat necks, which give them more streamlined shapes and better heat insulation. So it´s quite logical to assume that even quite early whales had most probably a lot of fat in the neck area, so the head and the body was much lesser marked-off from each other than often shown.

So if those early whales had upper lips, cheek-like structures, nasal soft-tissue and fat necks, they didn´t really look like reptilians any more, but like something already quite close to modern whales.

For more information and much more photos about this topic, take a look at my blog: bestiarium.kryptozoologie.net/…