Scientists have discovered a 43-million-year-old fossil of a previously unknown amphibious four-legged whale species in Egypt.
Scientists in Egypt have identified a new species of four-legged whale that is believed to have existed about 43 million years ago, the BBC reports.
CAIRO, Aug 25 (Reuters) - Scientists said on Wednesday they had discovered the 43 million-year-old fossil of a previously unknown amphibious four-legged whale species in Egypt that helps trace the transition of whales from land to sea.
A semiaquatic whale that lived 43 million years ago was so fearsome, paleontologists have named it after Anubis, the ancient Egyptian god of death.
During a brief period of elevated global temperatures 56 million years, some fish still flourished, according to researchers.
“Despite extreme conditions, the Ras Gharib A fauna … shows that diverse fish communities thrived in the paleotropics during the PETM [Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum],”
Researchers have discovered 56 million-year-old fish fossils in an eastern Egyptian desert that show the fish were able to exist in seas with temperatures approaching 95 degrees Fahrenheit, The Daily Mail reported.
The fossils were found in dark-gray shale in a site in the Eastern Desert known as Ras Gharib A,
The Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum, or PETM, was a short interval of highly elevated global temperatures 56 million years ago that is frequently described as the best ancient analog for present-day climate warming.
Fish are among the organisms thought to be most sensitive to warming climates,