Archaeologists have discovered fossilized whale bones estimated to have lived in Egypt 41 million years ago, the American University in Cairo (AUC) announced today.

The whale was named ‘Tutcetus Rayanensis’ – after the pharaoh Tutankhamun, the word cetus (meaning cetus in Greek) and the Wadi el Rayan protected area where the fossilized bones were found.

“This is the smallest regalosaurus (prehistoric species of whale, which has become extinct) that has been discovered to date and is one of the oldest specimens of this species in Africa,” the AUC said in a statement.

Paleontologists estimate that the whale was 2.5 meters long and weighed 187 kilograms.

The fossils were found in an area of ​​Egypt that was once covered by seawater. The area is popularly known as the “Valley of the Whales” and contains “priceless” fossils, according to UNESCO.

In August 2021, Egyptian archaeologists had discovered nearby the fossil of an amphibious species of whale dating back 43 million years. Phiomicetus Anubis, estimated to have been over three meters long and weighed around 600 kilograms, was then presented as the “oldest and wildest whale (that lived) in Africa”.

In 2018, researchers discovered the oldest dinosaur skeleton in Africa, which is estimated to have lived 75 million years ago.

(The main photo is a file)