Egypt discovers remains of 41 million-year-old whale in desert

Palaeontologists in Egypt have unearthed a new species of extinct whale that lived 41 million years ago when whale ancestors were just completing their move from land to sea.

The new discovered species has been given the name “Tutcetus rayanensis” in honour of Tutankhamun, the young king of Egypt, and the Wadi El-Rayan Protected Area in Egypt’s Fayoum Oasis, where the type specimen was discovered.

Tutcetus is the smallest species so far found from the basilosaurids, measuring an estimated 2.5 meters (eight feet) in length and weighing roughly 187 kilograms (410 pounds).

It was a “remarkable discovery that documents one of the first phases of the transition to a fully aquatic lifestyle”, team leader Hesham Sallam, of the American University in Cairo (AUC), said.