The find is also the oldest fully aquatic whale found in Africa, according to a new study. Tutcetus rayanensis is a member of the extinct family of early whales known as basilosauridae — the first widespread group to become fully aquatic. The discovery of the whale fossil led to the establishment of a new genus within the basilosauridae family. The area is one of the world’s “most productive fossil whale sites,” according to the study. Tutcetus rayanensis is the second whale species, following Phiomicetus anubis, to be discovered, described, and named by Egyptian paleontologists,” Antar said via email.

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Persons: Pharaoh Tutankhamen, rayanensis, ”, Mohammed S, Antar, ” Antar, paleobiologist Nicholas Pyenson, wasn’t, Abdullah Gohar, Mohamed Sameh, Hesham, Whales, Erik R, Seiffert, Carlos Mauricio Peredo, Hesham Sallam Organizations: CNN, Communications, Vertebrate Paleontology, Smithsonian National Museum of, Egypt's, University of Southern California’s Keck School of Medicine, Miami University in, American University Locations: Egypt, Africa, Washington , DC, Mansoura, Wadi, Miami University in Oxford , Ohio, Cairo