Most kind of you, Sir! I think you once asked if the cetacean-looking head of Mesonychus that caused all the controversy had to be explained by convergent evolution. From the figures in that Scientific American article, I don't get the impression that such an interpretation is necessary. After all, there's a better chance of you looking like your great uncle than like someone selected at random in the population.
The "For-Dummies" naming on this figure is unfortunate. (What ever happened to the old Sci-Am?) "Arlene" is non-hippo artiodactyls. "Megan" represents the mesonychids. "Celia" is the cetaceans and "Heidi" is hippos. There's a still-viable competing version--uncoupling "Heidi" from "Celia" and hooking her up to "Arlene"--but it doesn't change the position of "Megan."
Am I saying that camels descended from savage carnivores? Maybe. I hear they're still rather evil-tempered.
