Gazelle : The Palestinian Biological Bulletin (ISSN 0178 – 6288) . Number 134, February 2016, pp. 1-44. | Page 12

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Prof. Dr. Sc. Norman Ali Bassam Ali Taher Khalaf-von Jaffa studying a Basilosaurus isis
Whale Fossil at Wadi El-Hitan (Whales Valley), Al-Fayyum, Al-Sahraa Al-Gharbiah
(Western Desert), Egypt. Photo: Ola Mostafa Khalaf. 11.07.2012.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/50022881@N00/15473546661/

Behaviour :
Locomotion
It is also believed that Basilosaurus relied on unusual modes of locomotion,
relative to other cetaceans; similarly sized thoracic, lumbar, sacral and caudal
vertebrae imply that it moved in an anguilliform (eel-like) fashion, but
predominantly in the vertical plane. Paleontologist Philip D. Gingerich theorized
that Basilosaurus may also have moved in a very odd, horizontal anguilliform
fashion to some degree, something completely unknown in modern cetaceans.
The vertebrae appear to have been hollow, and it is likely that they were also
fluid-filled. This would imply that Basilosaurus typically functioned in only two
dimensions at the ocean surface, compared with the three-dimensional habits of
most other cetaceans. Judging from the relatively weak axial musculature and
the thick bones in the limbs, Basilosaurus is not believed to have been capable of
Gazelle : The Palestinian Biological Bulletin – Number 134 – February 2016