Peregocetus

Peregocetus Temporal range: Middle Eocene ~42.6 Ma PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N ↓
Size silhouette of Peregocetus compared to a human.
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Artiodactyla
Infraorder:	Cetacea
Family:	†Protocetidae
Subfamily:	†Protocetinae
Genus:	†Peregocetus Lambert et al., 2019
Species
P. pacificus Lambert et al., 2019 (type)

Peregocetus is a genus of early whale that lived in what is now Peru during the Middle Eocene epoch.^[1][2] Its fossil was uncovered in 2011 in the Yumaque Member (Paracas Formation) of the Pisco Basin at Playa Media Luna by a team consisting of members from Belgium, Peru, France, Italy, and the Netherlands.^[3][4] Parts recovered include the jaw, front and hind legs, bits of spine, and tail. Olivier Lambert, a scientist at the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences and lead author of the study, noted that Peregocetus "fills in a crucial [knowledge] gap" about the evolution of whales and their spread.^[3]

Peregocetus is the first recorded quadrupedal whale from the Pacific Ocean and the Southern Hemisphere. The discovery reveals that protocetids reached the Pacific Ocean and attained a near circumequatorial distribution while retaining functional weight-bearing limbs.^[1]

Peregocetus was essentially a four-legged whale: however, it had webbed feet with small hooves on the tips of its toes, making it more capable of moving on land than modern seals. It featured sharp teeth and a long snout which suggests it fed on fish and/or crustaceans.^[3][4] From its caudal vertebrae, it has been suggested that it might have possessed a flattened tail similar to a beaver.^[1]