Scientists find deer-like land cousin of the whale

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 that probably hid in water in times of danger.

Professor Hans Thewissen of Northeastern Ohio Universities colleges of medicine and pharmacy led a team that pieced together a series of intermediate fossils that trace the whale’s journey from land to sea.

They studied hundreds of fossils of indohyus, which is part of the larger raoellids group that lived at about the same time as the earliest whales — about 50 million years ago. The team found similarities in the skull and ear that suggest a link to cetaceans, a family that includes whales, dolphins and porpoises. They also found evidence in the make-up of indohyus’ teeth which resembled those of other aquatic animals.