Dalanistes ahmedi

This bizarre mammal is an early Cetacean, part of a family known as the Remingtonocetids. These early whales may have lived similarly to the otters and river dolphins of today. Dalanistes still retains 4 short, but land-operating limbs with digits; a sign of the animal's semi-aquatic nature, but isotopic studies suggest Dalanistes fed on marine prey. This suggests they lived on the coast, not unlike modern pinnipeds. The eyes of Dalanistes and other Remingtonocetids are small (likely a result of evolving in murky coastal waters), but like other cetaceans its hearing would have been well equipped to listen underwater, and its long snout very sensitive to its surroundings. Dalanistes lived during the Early Eocene, in what is now India and Pakistan.