2007-01-22 03:33:36 · 10 answers · asked by doodlenatty 4 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Zoology
The reason I ask is that I have just read on a website that in Cetaceans the hind limbs have been so adapted to become the tail flukes but as somebody else has put I was also under the belief that the hind legs had in fact shrunk over time whilst the tail evolved separately.
2007-01-22 03:51:50 · update #1
No. The 2 hind limbs have been reduced to two tiny bones which sit in the muscle where the pelvis would be.
http://www.wdcs.org/dan/publishing.nsf/allweb/724E9ECC96A4B71E80256DB8002F5CC5
Click on 'Hind legs' on the link above for a pic.
2007-01-22 04:28:08 · answer #1 · answered by Whoosher 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
No the tail is not a limb. There are two reasons for this:
1. The hind limbs are present but very much reduced and found on the pelvic bones - what is left of them.
2. The tail of the whale actually has no bones in it at all - it is just muscle.
A whale is a mammal and the developing embryo has 4 buds from which limbs develop in the same place on the body as all other mammals. Tails are a separate entity altogether. Whales are descended from the same ancestors as ruminants. Their front limbs have five digits just as our hands do.
2007-01-22 15:05:27 · answer #2 · answered by ? 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋
nope, it is just a tail. The only limbs on living whales are the two front fins. They lost any sign of a pectoral girdle (pelvis attached to hind limbs) a couple hundred thousand years ago....in the bradyosaurus? icthosaurus?? was the last fossil record of hind limbs. I forgot the exact name of the species though.
2007-01-22 11:39:33 · answer #3 · answered by D 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
no. Whales actually have two front limbs (flippers) and two back limbs. The back ones have evolutionarily shrunk since the whale doesn't need them. The tail is an extension of the spinal column.
2007-01-22 11:37:37 · answer #4 · answered by jalwerdt 2 · 3⤊ 1⤋
its part of a tail that the animal had when it was on land long ago.. so no its not a limb.
2007-01-22 11:38:47 · answer #5 · answered by ♥lois c♥ ☺♥♥♥☺ 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
No, a tail on any mammal is not a limb.
2007-01-22 11:36:20 · answer #6 · answered by harvestmoon 5 · 2⤊ 0⤋
are you talking about the animal or when girls have a 'whales tail'(when their thong is showing)coz no,that isnt but on the animal of coarse it is!
2007-01-22 11:44:59 · answer #7 · answered by sezcoco 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
yes i think it is
2007-01-22 11:39:22 · answer #8 · answered by lennydiane 3 · 0⤊ 3⤋
No, a lamb.
2007-01-22 11:36:21 · answer #9 · answered by mick271602 2 · 0⤊ 3⤋
i dont know
2007-01-22 11:36:50 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 3⤋