Anatomy of a Whale

A whales tail is called a fluke. But it is anything but a fluke of nature. It's totally true to it's origins as a previously land living creature. This pic is of  the extremely rare Blue Whale. Even if you spent your life at sea it's almost certain that you would never clap eyes on a Blue Whales fluke. You're probably more likely to witness the second coming. Kathleen Jamie was in a museum looking at Whale skeletons. She noticed these curious bones about two-thirds along the spine. They were the, now redundant, remains of what once used to be a pelvis. Back in geological/evolutionary times this creatures forebears were land going mammals. So put any mammal into water and what have you got. Head up, chest down, two arms and two legs. Just for analogy here imagine doing the butterfly stroke. Your feet beating up and down. Not unlike the Blue Whale. Now consider what fish do. Their "flukes" are vertical. ...and do not beat up and down.....but sideways. So fish evolved in water and had no need to adapt in any way. Dolphins and whales have adapted to living in water but the anatomy they started with lead them to solve some problems with a different "twist".