Pakicetus is an extinct genus of amphibious cetacean of the family Pakicetidae, which was endemic to Pakistan during the Eocene, about 56 to 41 million years ago. It was an animal rather like a wolf, about 1 metre (3 ft 3 in) to 2 metres (6 ft 7 in) long, and lived in and around water where it ate fish and small animals. The vast majority of paleontologists regard it as the most basal whale, representing a transitional stage between land mammals and whales. It belongs to the even-toed ungulates with the closest living relative being the hippopotamus.