Name/Title
Cetacea (whale fossil)Entry/Object ID
2012.2.10Description
Description: Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Cetacea
Common Name: Whale (Humerus)
Age: Miocene
Location: Shark Tooth Hill, Kern County, California
Description: (1) humerus bone with visible tooth marks (shark)
Physical Characteristics:
Whale (origin Old English hwæl) is the common name for various marine mammals of the order Cetacea.[1] The term whale sometimes refers to all cetaceans, but more often it excludes dolphins and porpoises,[2] which belong to the suborder Odontoceti (toothed whales). This suborder also includes the sperm whale, killer whale, pilot whale, and beluga whale. The other Cetacean suborder, Mysticeti (baleen whales), comprises filter feeders that eat small organisms caught by straining seawater through a comblike structure found in the mouth called baleen. This suborder includes the blue whale, the humpback whale, the bowhead whale and the minke whale. All cetaceans have forelimbs modified as fins, a tail with horizontal flukes, and nasal openings (blowholes) on top of the head.
Whales range in size from the blue whale, the largest animal known to have ever existed[3] at 30 m (98 ft) and 180 tonnes (180 long tons; 200 short tons), to various pygmy species, such as the pygmy sperm whale at 3.5 m (11 ft). Whales collectively inhabit all the world's oceans and number in the millions, with annual population growth rate estimates for various species ranging from 3% to 13%.[4]
Kingdom: Animalia (Animals)
Class: Mammalia
Order: Cetacea
Phylum: ChordataCollection
Mike Hammer Fossil CollectionAcquisition
Accession
2012.2Source or Donor
Mike HammerAcquisition Method
Long-term LoanOther Names and Numbers
Other Number
Other Number: MKH-10Dimensions
Width
4-1/2 inDepth
3 inLength
9-1/4 in
