Fossil of 41-million-year old tiny whale discovered in Egypt

The fossil of one of the smallest whales, which has gone extinct, was discovered by palaeontologists in Egypt. The announcement was made just a week after scientists claimed to have found a species of an ancient whale, which may have been the largest animal to have ever lived on Earth.

The "tiny" fossil, which was dug up in Wadi el-Hitan, or Whale Valley, is likely to be of a whale which lived around 41 million years ago, said scientists, in a study published on Thursday (August 10) in the journal Communications Biology. It was estimated that the whale weighed around 412 pounds and was around eightfeet long.

This newly found Tutcetus rayanensis, which has been named after King Tut, is a basilosaurid, which is one of the extinct families of fully aquatic whales. Basilosauridae used to live at a time when whales transitioned from land to sea. This family of whales had flippers and strong tails and also had hind limbs similar to legs.

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"Whales' evolution from land-dwelling animals to beautiful marine creatures embodies the marvellous adventurous journey of life," said Hesham Sallam, a professor of vertebrate palaeontology at the American University in Cairo and the project's lead, in a press release.

"Tutcetus is a remarkable discovery that documents one of the first phases of the transition to a fully aquatic lifestyle that took place in that journey,” she added.

The land-roaming whales from the pre-historic era were relatively small. In the study, scientists said that they believe the small size of Tutcetus was either because of primitive retention or is connected to global warming during the period.

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Reconstructing growth of whale

The discovery of the fossil includes jaws, skull, hyoid bone and vertebra pieces. These were found embedded in a limestone block. The teeth and bones of the whale were scanned by scientists to reconstruct the development and growth of the species.

Scientists believe that the species was relatively mature from birth. It is also possible that the whale had a comparatively short life.

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Prof Sallam said that the team initially discovered a single exposed tooth in a block of limestone which dated back to the Eocene period.

“Then when we were trying to repair it and clean up all of the sediment above the fossils, we discovered it is not something we usually see from that time period,” he stated.

“(Tutcetus) is actually having very primitive features for the group that’s already known from Wadi el-Hitan. It’s clear it’s a new genus and species. It also ended up being the oldest one [recorded], in Africa, for a fully aquatic whale,” the team said.

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