Whales, and other cetaceans like dolphins and porpoises are mammals.  They are air-breathing animals that live in the ocean....where there is no air. Whales are one of the silliest evolved creatures on the planet.  Sorry Shamu.

Those crazy scientists are now trying to tell us that the ancestors of Free Willy actually came from land.  Yeah right, and Moby Dick is an interesting read.  But fossil evidence is mounting - from fossils of Ambulocetus and Pakicetus - the transition species for the land to sea transition of whales.

Who and what were these land-dwelling ancestors of whales?  Science in Seconds takes a closer look.

_{Host: Torah Kachur}

_{Photo credits:  Mary Parish - Smithsonian Institute, Wikimedia Users: Pacman, Peter Maas,}

_{References:  http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/09/080917210028.htm}

_{http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/evolution/library/03/4/l_034_05.html}

_{http://www.nature.com/nature/videoarchive/ancientwhale/}