Dr. Thewissen's fieldwork in India started in 1992 and is in collaboration with Dr. Sunil Bajpai (Roorkee University). Fossiliferous areas in India are found on the coast (Kachchh District, State of Gujarat) and in the lesser Himalayas (Himachal Pradesh). The faunas of Gujarat are the classical marine mammal faunas of the Indian continent and deliver beautiful specimens of middle Eocene age (about 43 to 46 million years old).
Kachchh preserves a nearshore marine fauna. The fauna of Kachchh is younger than the Pakistan fauna studied by the Thewissen lab and contains protocetid, dorudontid and remingtonocetid whales. Together the faunas from Pakistan and India document the transition of whales from freshwater to the sea.
Even though scientists have collected fossil whales at Kachchh since the 1970's, there is no end to the new discoveries. When Thewissen went there with Dr. Bajpai in 1996, they found bones of more advanced whales. Some of these are basilosaurids with long snake-like bodies.
Dr. Thewissen excavating a whale jaw in Kachchh
All pictures on Dr. Thewissen's pages are public access, although the source must be identified in publication.
Ambulocetidae
| Basilosaurids and
Dorudontids | Bibliography | Hearing
| India |
Locomotion | Mysticetes
| Odontocetes | Osmoregulation
| Pakicetidae |
Pakistan | Protocetidae
| Remingtonocetidae | Whale
| Whale Origins!