A semi-aquatic Arctic mammalian carnivore from the Miocene epoch and origin of Pinnipedia

Natalia Rybczynski (), Mary R. Dawson and Richard H. Tedford
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Natalia Rybczynski: Canadian Museum of Nature, PO Box 3443 STN D, Ottawa, Ontario K1P 6P4, Canada
Mary R. Dawson: Carnegie Museum of Natural History, 4400 Forbes Avenue, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15213, USA
Richard H. Tedford: American Museum of Natural History, New York, New York 10024, USA

Nature, 2009, vol. 458, issue 7241, 1021-1024

Abstract: Out of the Arctic Seals, sealions and walruses (collectively the pinnipeds) evolved from land-living carnivores, but the earliest known pinniped, Enaliarctos, already had flippers. Now a new fossil find from the Canadian Arctic provides a view of an earlier stage in pinniped evolution, documenting an otter-like transition between land and water. The fossil is a nearly complete skeleton adapted for a semiaquatic life, including possibly webbing between the phalanges. The find supports suggestions of an Arctic origin for pinnipeds.

Date: 2009
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DOI: 10.1038/nature07985

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