Photo : webshot.

August 25, 2021

Anna Murray 

On August 25th, scientists in Egypt unearthed a 43-million-year-old fossil of an extinct amphibious four-legged whale, assisting in tracking the transition of whales from land to sea.

Phiomicetus anubis, the name of this new whale species, was around three meters in length and weighed about 600 kilograms. According to the researchers, it was possibly a top predator and the most ancient protocetid whale known from Africa, based on some of its skeleton.

The fossil was discovered in the Fayum Depression in Egypt's Western Desert, which was previously covered by sea. The researchers pointed out that working in this area may benefit unearthing new details of evolutionary transition from amphibious to completely aquatic whales.