2023-08-11 16:51:50
Remains of a 41 million year old whale have been discovered in Egypt by paleontologists.
The fossil – that of one of the smallest extinct whales – is thought to have been found just a week after scientists found an ancient whale species that may be the heaviest animal ever found, US media outlet CBS reported. News.
The bones found in Wadi el-Hitan, 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 Communication Biology, as mentioned by the news channel .
It would be a Tutcetus rayanensis, an extinct species of entirely aquatic whales which would have lived at the time when whales passed from land to sea. Thus this species had strong tails and fins, but also limbs hind legs similar to legs.
“The evolution of whales from land animals to beautiful sea creatures epitomizes the wonderful adventurous journey of life,” Hesham Sallam, professor of vertebrate paleontology at the American University in Cairo and project leader, said in a statement. press. Tutcetus is a remarkable discovery that documents one of the first phases of the transition to a fully aquatic lifestyle that took place during this voyage.”
The researchers would therefore have found a skull, jaws, hyoid bone and pieces of vertebrae, all embedded in a block of limestone.
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