It also extends our knowledge of
ancient whales, and completes the bigger paleoecological picture of the late Eocene's oceans of Egypt, said Voss.
The property is nominated for its fossil values, which are centred on the fossils of
ancient whales from the earliest, and now extinct, suborder of whales, the Archaeoceti (or archaeocetes).
Megalodon was quite a terror - it was 60ft long and the remains of
ancient whales show where they were bitten in half by the massive shark.
Scientists look for evidence of echolocation in
ancient whales in the density of fossil bone, location of pits in the skull and upper jaw shape.
They also found the remains of 24
ancient whales that swam in the region's waters 42 million years ago, including one belonging to an entirely new species.
Zalmout e-mailed a photo to Gingerich, an expert on early primates as well as
ancient whales.
When author Sy Montgomery ventured into the Amazon jungle in search of the pink dolphins, she found
ancient whales and people who lived among them.
Together these and other fossils display an unmistakable diversity among
ancient whales. For Gould, who gushed freely over every satisfying detail, they represented as well the triumph of popular but genuine science over obstinate creationist ideology.
While the passages on the
ancient whales tend to drag a bit, the rest of Ihimaera's beautifully written story sparkles with life and will be hard for any reader, child or adult, to put down.
Newly described fossils of
ancient whales, including the unprecedented discovery of a pregnant female, were unearthed in the hinterlands of central Pakistan in 2000 and 2004.
Looking a little like a wolf with hooves, mesonychians had an unusual set of teeth that resemble those of
ancient whales. Unlike all other ungulates, which have flattened molars with cusps for grinding plants, whales and mesonychians have bladelike molars presumably useful for tearing meat.
Among the changes,
ancient whales lost their legs and pelvises and developed the characteristic fluked tail that propels these modern leviathans through the seas.