A Whale of a Tale

Paleontologists claim to have discovered a nearly complete skeleton of an ancient, four-legged whale in Peru. Other fossils believed to have come from proto-whales (based solely on a single ear bone) were found in Pakistan, thus scientists hypothesize that the creatures traveled westward from southern Asia, across northern Africa, across the Atlantic Ocean to South America, and around the northern end to present-day Peru.

While scientists know that whales’ ancestors came from the sea onto land, then evolved to once again live in the sea, the exact details of that journey have been sparse.

This is the kind of language common from the scientific community these days. They know what happened, even when evidence is "sparse." The scientific process consists of searching for evidence to support what is already known to be true.

Appearance-wise, this whale did not look like the whales we have come to know. Like its ancestors in South Asia, it still had small hooves, which indicate that it was still capable of standing and even walking on land. Bones in its tail are reminiscent of beavers’ and otters’ tails, suggesting that the body part was essential to its swimming capabilities.
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This skeleton, dug out from the coastal desert Playa Media Luna, is the first indisputable record of a quadrupedal whale skeleton for the whole Pacific Ocean.

They say that the earliest whale was a land-dwelling hooved relative of the modern cow or hippo, with a tail like a beaver, which could swim across entire oceans. They call the evidence "indisputable." Do not try to dispute the evidence! It cannot be done.

Overall, the ancient animal was four meters long, and the physical evidence suggests it possessed locomotion abilities that enabled it to travel great distances. This specimen’s existence also demonstrates that four-legged whales were able to cross the South Atlantic Ocean and disperse as far as the Pacific Ocean — all while retaining functional, weight-bearing limbs — less than 20 million years after their origin.

The evidence neither suggests nor demonstrates that it could travel such great distances asea while yet land-dwelling. The need to confirm the whale evolution theory does all the suggesting. A careful survey of the evidence does not lead to such a conclusion, and certainly not to the level of certainty being conveyed. As usual, the tail wags the dog; the cart comes before the horse. The theory is assumed to be true, the evidence is just "details."

While the journey is still impressive — from South Asia, to the western coast of Africa, to South America — researchers say that was in part possible because the distance between the latter two continents was half what it is today. This ancient whale also would have been assisted by westward surface currents, which pushed it onward as it swam.

Why resort to such musings to explain a beaver-like ocean-crossing cow? Because, they must tie the new fossil - which they call a proto-whale - to the Asian fossils that they previously called proto-whales. To fit their timeline, the ocean crossing must have happened while the creature was still hooved, and the ocean already vast.