The fossil was found in the rocks of the Middle Eocene in the Fayum oasis in the Western Desert of Egypt (the Sahara region located west of the Nile River).
The new species of whale was named Phiomicetus Anubis, after ancient egyptian god of the dead Anubis. Chthe skull of an animal resembles the head of a god, after whom he was named, reported BBC.
The ancestors of modern whales descended from terrestrial deer-like mammals that lived on land for 10 million years ago. Scientists believe that whales were able to walk on land and swim.
The four-legged whale, three meters long, weighed 600 kg. He had strong jaws with which he could catch prey, for example, crocodiles and small mammals. Live Science… It was the god of death for most of the animals that lived near him, said study lead author Abdullah Gohar, a graduate student in vertebrate paleontology at Mansour University in Egypt.
Paleontologists discovered whale fossils in 2008.
Phiomicetus Anubis is considered the earliest semi-aquatic whale species found in Africa, the BBC reported. It is believed that the first whales appeared in South Asia about 50 million years ago. In 2011, a group of paleontologists in Peru discovered a 43 million-year-old four-legged whale fossil.
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