Toothed whale porpoise as a fish. Toothed whales, as well as baleen whales, are descendants of land-dwelling mammals of the artiodactyl order (even-toed ungulates). They are closely related to the hippopotamus, sharing a common ancestor that lived around 54 million years ago (mya). The primitive cetaceans, or archaeocetes, first took to the sea approximately 49 mya and became fully aquatic by 5–10 million years later. The adaptation of echolocation and enhanced fat synthesis in blubber occurred when toothed whales split apart from baleen whales, and distinguishes modern toothed whales from fully aquatic archaeocetes. This happened around 34 mya. Unlike toothed whales, baleen
And God Created Great Whales in the King James Version of the Bible. The music contains elements of melodic pentatonicism and asynchronous aleatoricism, which Hovhaness referred to as "free non-rhythm chaos." Specially recorded whale vocalizations play intermittently throughout the work and include the songs of humpback whales and bowhead whales. The whale recordings were done by Roger Payne and Frank Watlington, from the album "Songs of the Humpback Whale". Larry Rohter of "The New York Times" said the piece "can veer toward kitsch." Edward Greenfield of "Gramophone" similarly gave the work mixed praise, stating: And God Created Great Whales And God Created Great Whales, Op.