Description
Halitherium schinzi, a sea cow (Sirenia) from the Oligocene of Germany
Date 2 January 2007
Author Nobu Tamura
Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Halitherium_BW.jpg

Halitherium was an early sea cow that started in the late Eocene, then the Oligocene. Its fossils are common in European shales. Inside its flippers were finger bones that did not stick out. Halitherium also had the residues of back legs, which did not show externally. However, it did have a basic femur, joined to a reduced pelvis. Halitherium also had elongated ribs, presumably to increase lung capacity to provide fine control of buoyancy. Order: Sirenia, Family: Dugongidae, Subfamily: Halitheriinae, Genus: Halitherium.
Species:
Halitherium alleni
Halitherium schinzii (Kaup, 1838) (type species)