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Evolution of cetaceans
The cetaceans (whales, dolphins and porpoises) are descendants of land-living mammals, and remnants of their terrestrial origins can be found in the fact that they must breathe air from the surface; in the bones of their fins, which look like huge, jointed hands; and in the vertical movement of their spines, characteristic more of a running mammal than of the horizontal movement of fish.
Note: The above text is excerpted from the Wikipedia article "Evolution of cetaceans", which has been released under the GNU Free Documentation License.
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