Egypt's Wadi el-Hitan, also known as the Valley of the Whales, was once underwater and is now home to many ancient fossils of primitive whales. (Photo credit: Mohamed Elshahed/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
The Valley of the Whales is an area of Egypt's Sahara Desert that is rich in the skeletons of ancient whales, some of which still have limbs and toes.
According to UNESCO, these skeletons and other marine fossils date back to the late Eocene (55.8 to 33.9 million years ago), when modern-day Egypt was flooded by the Tethys Ocean and whales were just beginning their evolution into marine animals.
“These fossils represent one of the key stories of evolution: the emergence of the whale as a marine mammal, emerging from ancestors that lived on land,” the UNESCO website states.
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Sourse: www.livescience.com
