Paleontologists have discovered the remains of a 41-million-year-old whale in Egypt.
The fossil – one of the smallest of the extinct whales – is believed to have been found just a week after scientists discovered a species of ancient whale that may be the heaviest animal ever found, US media reported CBS. news.
And the bones found in the Valley of the Whales, which is also called the Valley of the Whales, belong to a whale that lived 41 million years ago, according to the study published in the Journal of Communication Biology, according to what was reported by the news channel.
It would be Tutcetus rayanensis, an extinct species of entirely aquatic whale that would have lived at the time when whales passed from land to sea, and thus this species had powerful tails and flippers, but also hind limbs resembling legs.
Hisham Salam, professor of vertebrate paleontology at the American University in Cairo and head of the project, said in a statement that the evolution of whales from wild animals to beautiful sea creatures embodies the wonderful adventurous journey of life. Tutcetus is a remarkable find that documents one of the first stages of the transition to a fully aquatic lifestyle that occurred during this voyage.”
So the researchers would have found a skull, jaws, hyoid bone and parts of vertebrae all embedded in a block of limestone.
