2023-08-11 18:15:07
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Baptized “Tutcetus Rayanensis”, this whale is one of the oldest specimens of its species. The cetacean was 2.5 meters long and weighed 187 kg.
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Posted on 08/11/2023 18:14 Updated on 08/11/2023 18:15
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A team of paleontologists from the American University in Cairo take a break in front of the bones of the basilosauridae whale discovered in Egypt. (AFP PHOTO / HO / AMERICAN UNIVERSITY IN CAIRO (AUC))
Archaeologists have discovered the bones of a whale that lived in Egypt 41 million years ago, one of the specimens “the oldest of his family in Africa” now extinct, the American University in Cairo (AUC) announced Thursday, August 8. This whale was named “Tutcetus Rayanensis”, from the name of the pharaoh-child Tutankhamun, from “cetus”, which means “whale” in Greek, and from Wadi al-Rayan, the region of Fayoum, south of Cairo, where it was discovered. It is “the smallest basilosauridae whale discovered to date and one of the oldest specimens of this species in Africa”the AUC said in a statement.
2.5 meters long for 187 kg
The discovery of this fossil represents a “crucial stage in the terrestrial-to-maritime evolution of whales”, according to Hicham Salam, a member of the research team who found a skull, jaws, bones and a vertebra of an animal 2.5 meters long and weighing 187 kg. During this stage, the whales “have developed fishy features, such as a streamlined body, powerful tail, fins, and show the last signs of limbs conspicuous enough to qualify as legs, probably not used for walking but for reproduction”he detailed, quoted in the press release.
The fossil was found in a part of Egypt once covered by a sea, where the Valley of the Whales is also located, which contains fossil remains “priceless”, according to Unesco. Already in August 2021, Egyptian archaeologists discovered the fossil of a new species of amphibian whale dating back 43 million years in the Fayoum region. Long of more than three meters and of approximately 600 kilos, the “Fioumicetus anubis”had then been presented by Egypt as “the most ferocious and oldest whale in Africa”. In 2018, a team of scientists discovered the first dinosaur skeleton in Africa dating back more than 75 million years.
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