Taking your sea cow out for a walk

["Thomas R. Holtz, Jr." <tholtz@geol.umd.edu>]

Hi, everybody,

Changing the subject, the latest in the walking sea mammal parade:

Domning, D.P. 2001. The earliest known fully quadrupedal sirenian.  Nature
413: 625-627.

Describes _Pezosiren portelli_, a new basal member of the sirenians (sea
cows), with fully developed fore- and hindlimbs.  The reconstructed skeleton
looks a LOT like the Yale mount of _Moeritherium_ (which, incidentally, is
longer and more tubular than just about every reconstruction I've seen of
it, where it is restored as a tapir or hippo-like critter).  The skull of
_Pezosiren_ is very sea cow-like.  It is from the early Middle Eocene of
Jamaica, mon.  Length is 2.1 m, skull length 26.5 cm.

I have this image in my head for a cartoon (or, alternatively, a
Dinotopia-like "realistic" painting) of someone strolling down the street,
walking their whales and sea cow (in the form of _Pakicetus_,
_Ichthyolestes_, and _Pezosiren_) on a leash...

                Thomas R. Holtz, Jr.
                Vertebrate Paleontologist
Department of Geology           Director, Earth, Life & Time Program
University of Maryland          College Park Scholars
                College Park, MD  20742
http://www.geol.umd.edu/~tholtz/tholtz.htm
http://www.geol.umd.edu/~jmerck/eltsite
Phone:  301-405-4084    Email:  tholtz@geol.umd.edu
Fax (Geol):  301-314-9661       Fax (CPS-ELT): 301-405-0796