Whales used to have feet. Why don't they have feet today?

Sabine06

Evolution. http://hometown.aol.com/darwinpage/landtosea.htm Mar 31 06, 5:45 PM

Baloo55th

Because they changed to swim better - evolution, as Sabine says. Seals and Walruses are part of the way back into the water, but the cetaceans (whales, porpoises and dolphins) went all the way. It's a case of finding a niche and exploiting it. The ancestors of whales were somewhat dog-like, as seals are a bit. Probably - and we've no way of knowing for sure - some of them fed on the seashore, as foxes do in my area. Then some of them would have started going into the water after fish, and the better swimmers would spend more time in the water, and eventually there were some that didn't come out. There is a condition in humans where seal-like limbs replace normal ones - phocomelia. (Many cases of this were caused by Thalidomide, but it was a condition that occurred rarely before that.) Possibly a similar condition came about in these creatures - and what would be a disadvantage on land became an advantage in the water. This is NOT how it actually happened - this is an example of how it COULD occur. If some dolphins (whales are mostly too big now) started to develop legs again, they might start to come back out of the water if it meant easier food and better chances of survival. Nowadays, that is rather doubtful, but if man disappeared there would be opportunities. Apr 01 06, 11:10 AM

kaylofgorons

Abbreviated version: They don't have feet because they don't need them. Apr 01 06, 2:37 PM

Baloo55th

So couch potatoes and some geeks are going to lose their feet? (LOL...) Apr 01 06, 2:41 PM

davejacobs

I was sure someone was going to say 'Because God made them that way'. Apr 02 06, 3:53 AM

kaylofgorons

Why not, Baloo? If they can get someone to feed them and find a way to reproduce, in a few million years...who knows, right? I tried to use a generic answer to sum up whatever reasons whatsoever. Whatever side you take, the answer is simply that whales don't need feet today. Apr 02 06, 1:15 PM

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