Inputs by Shreya Tibrewal
On August 10, 2023, scientists published a paper about finding the fossil of a species of tiny whale in Egypt. No fossil of this species has been found so far, making it a discovery of a species hitherto (uptil now) unknown.
It is one of the basilosaurid family’s smallest species.
Tutcetus rayanensis is the scientific name for this whale.
It measures only 2.5 metres long and weighs less than 200 kgs. (An average human is about 1 – 1.2 meters long. The Blue Whale is about 29 meters long).
The whale is about the size of a modern-day bottlenose dolphin. The fossil is 41 million years old. Researchers say that the whale was almost an adult since its permanent teeth had appeared. A skull, jaws, hyoid bone, and vertebral pieces were discovered. They were embedded in a limestone rock.
This species has been named after King Tut, the Egyptian pharaoh Tutankhamun.
About Basilosaurids
The word “basilosaurid” comes from the Latin word basilosaurus, which means “king lizard.”
The basilosaurid family is an extinct group considered to be the first whales to become fully aquatic, instead of the other early whales who moved on land. Long ago, whale ancestors were known to walk on 4 legs along the beaches. Earlier species had legs in place of fins and in some cases even fur.
On 3rd August, 2023, researchers announced in the journal Nature about finding fossils of a creature likely to be the heaviest species known – another whale species. That fossil was found in Southern Peru by researchers from the University of Pisa.
All images from original paper