Location: 150 km South-west of Cairo Map
Wadi Al- Hitan or a Whale Valley ( وادي الحيتان) is situated some 150 km South West of Cairo. It is famous fo numerous fossils of ancient whales that are found here. Wadi Al- Hitan or Valley of the Whales is famous for full skeletons of whales that once swam here then this part of Africa was submerged under the sea. Evolution of a land based animal to a marine mammal is easily traceable by the fossils that are spread all around the region. It is no surprise that this part of Egyptian desert is named UNESCO World Heritage Site. Its isolation from most of human settlement gave chance to scientists discover and describe many whale species of Archaeocetes suborder. Known to palaeontologists as Dorudon Atrox, this ancient ancestor of modern whales is commonly found in the area. While its body shows characteristics of a marine animal, it still keeps its rudimentary hind limbs as well as skull and tooth design of a land animal.
Around 40 million years ago, during the Eocene, the
Tethys Ocean was located here for around two million years. Then
tectonic forces raised the terrain and the sea was pushed back. The
remains of the sea creatures were embedded in sediments.
Today
you can discover the fossilized skeletons of primitive whales, shark
teeth, shells and corals as well as other traces of past marine life in
the eight square kilometer area. Fossilized mangrove roots from that era
can also be found. These finds allow a reconstruction of the
paleoecology, i.e. the living conditions of that time.
The whale
skeletons are of particular interest - a total of 250 specimens have
been discovered so far. These are remains of the genera Basilosaurus
(“king lizard”) and Dorudon atrox. The first bones of Basilosaurus were
found in the USA in 1830 and were mistakenly thought to be the remains
of a reptile. However, the English anatomist Richard Owen recognized
that it was a mammal and suggested renaming it tozeuglodon (“yoke
tooth”). But according to the principle of priority, the older name
applies, although “Zeuglodon” remained a frequently used synonym. The
Wadi al-Hitan is therefore also called “Wadizeuglodon”.
These
fossils can be used to prove the origin of whales from land animals. The
fossils still have remnants of the hind legs, but they already have the
streamlined shape that is adapted to aquatic life.
Around a dozen
of the best locations for finding whale spines are marked and secured by
ropes to the left and right of the marked path. Other bones are buried
under mounds of earth or rubble, so you should neither climb nor drive
over these piles.
In the valley, among the fossils that emerged from the erosion of the
sandstones formed from the ancient seabed, over 500 skeletons of
archaeocetes, complete or partial, have been documented and three
different species of these ancient cetaceans have been identified.
The largest specimen is a Basilosaurus isis 21 meters long, a
carnivorous cetacean with serrated teeth, hind limbs equipped with
fingers and a tapered body like modern whales. The remains of these
hidden limbs testify to the evolution of cetaceans from terrestrial to
marine life forms. During the 2015 excavation campaign, the first and
only known complete skeleton of Basilosaurus isis was found, 18 meters
long, thanks to which it was possible to observe for the first time the
tail equipped with spines (as in a thagomizer). Inside the specimen
still preserved, in correspondence with the stomach, the remains of the
last meal: crabs, sawfish and a small cetacean. Next to the skeleton,
the presence of numerous shark teeth testifies to how the carcass was
partially devoured after death and reflects the abundance of these
species at the time.
Numerous skeletons of Dorudon atrox were
also found, archaeocetes up to 5 meters long, half of which were very
young, which suggests that the area represented a usual place for the
birth of young, favored by the shallow waters located along the southern
coasts of the Tethys Ocean. Some skulls of Dorudon atrox hatchlings show
bite marks from a large predator, probably Basilosaurus isis.
A
third species of archaeocete is represented by the Ancalecetus simonsi,
of comparable size to the Dorudon atrox, of which only a partial
skeleton has been found.
The presence of fossil finds of other
marine animals including three primitive species of sirenids, remains of
Moeritherium, an ancestor of the elephant, crocodiles, sharks, sawfish,
rays, bony fish, turtles and sea snakes, allows us to reconstruct the
ecological and environmental conditions of the area at the time of the
evolution of the archaeocetes.
The fossils also include numerous
invertebrates: nummulites, molluscs, gastropods, echinoids, bivalves and
crabs.
There are only 1,000 visitors a year who travel to Wādī al-Ḥītān by
4WD as the track is not asphalted and crosses desert sands. For the most
part, visitors to Wādī al-Ḥītān are foreigners who usually frequent the
valley during winter weekends. Because Wādī al-Ḥītān is within the Wādī
al-Rayān protected area, the site's conservation program funnels
visitors along a prescribed route. Sustainable tourism is starting to
develop and grow in the area, while visits on board four-wheel drive
vehicles are alternatively replaced by walks on foot or on dromedaries.
Since part of Wādī al-Ḥītān has been transformed into a tourist
site, some walkways have been placed to connect the places where the
main fossils are found and small shelters have also been built. This
public park is now regularly visited by tourist groups and there is also
a small campsite.
The valley lies behind a mountain, known as
Qārat Gahannam (Arabic قارة)?, Qārat) means "hill" or "mountain" and
Gahannam, Arabic ﺟﻬﻨﻢ?, means "hell", so Qārat Gahannam means "
mountain of hell". In the light of the sunset, the mountain seems to be
ablaze with a frightening red light.
The Egyptian government said
that in July 2007 two cars driven by Belgian diplomats entered a
protected zone in this sector and this caused US$10 million in damage to
the fossils. The Belgian government declared, however, that no damage
was caused by its diplomats. The problem still remains unsolved.