Basilosaurus 

History

     Basilosaurus was an ancient whale that lived from 40 million years ago to 36 million years ago. When a palentologist (fossil hunter) named Richard Harlan found a backbone, he called the animal basilosaurus, or "king lizard" in Latin. He found a jawbone of the creature, but when he showed it to British scientist Richard Owen, Owen said the teeth looked like they were from a mammal! Harlan admitted he was wrong, but the name he gave it stuck.

Where I got this pic:http://dsc.discovery.com/convergence/beasts/photo/gallery/basilosaurus_hzoom.jpg

Facts

• a female basilosaurus was about 50 feet long,and males were 60 feet (that's almost as long as a 25 yard swimming pool!)

• they ate fish, sharks, mollusks( like snails, clams and squid) and smaller whales

• they have been featured in several BBC movies like Walking With Beasts

• Basilosaurus fossils have been found in Egypt, Australia and the American southeast (like Alabama and Lousiana). Basilosaurus Cetoides is the state fossil of Alabama.

• they are descended from a group of mammals called Mesonychians, like andrewsarchus.(in pic) Most other whales are descended from this group.

where i got this pic:http://www.abc.net.au/beasts/factfiles/factfiles/andrewsarchus.htm

Habitat

Basilosaurus lived in the open ocean, as they would be too big to live around the coast, where they might get beached.

Classification 

Domain: Eukarya

Kingdom: Animalia 

phylum: Chordata

Class: Mammalia

Order: Cetacea

                          Suborder: archaeoceti

There are actually three species of Basilosaurus!

B. Isis

B.  Cetoides

B. Drazindui

If you want to learn about modern whales, click link! P.S. these pages are all made by other Taylor students.

 Humpback Whale.

Beluga Whales

whales

Sperm Whale

Blue Whales

thanks to everyone who made these pages!!! :3

Where I got this pic:http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/seamonsters/factfiles/images/basilosaurus_closeup.jpg 

Appearance

Basilosaurus had a long body, which supported the thinking that it was a sea monster. It also had small legs, which are thought to have  helped it mate. (Cue: Yuck!) But they show Basilosaurus evolved from a land animal.

Bibliography

I got a lot of info from...

Walking with Prehistoric Beasts, Tim Haines, 2001, 264 pages

At the water's edge, Carl Zimmer, 1998, 290 pages

http://www.enchantedlearning.com (weird name, I know, but good info on scientific names)