By Sascha Pare
Skip to main content
Live Science
Live Science
Search Live Science
View Profile
Sign up to our newsletter
Planet Earth
Archaeology
Physics & Math
Human Behavior
Science news
Life’s Little Mysteries
Science quizzes
Newsletters
Story archive
NASA confirms ‘interstellar visitor’
Shipwreck with ‘eye-watering’ treasure
Adult brain cells
Bird flu spread
NordVPN deal
Recommended reading
Human Evolution
140,000 year old bones of our ancient ancestors found on sea floor, revealing secrets of extinct human species
Ancient Egyptians
Archaeologists unearth tree-lined walkway that led to ancient Egyptian fortress in Sinai Desert
Lake Natron: The caustic, blood-red lake in Tanzania that turns animals to ‘stone’
Wilkes Land crater: The giant hole in East Antarctica’s gravitational field likely caused by a meteorite
Rivers & Oceans
Jellyfish Lake: Palau’s saltwater pool with a toxic bottom and surface waters brimming with millions of jellyfish
El Cono: The mysterious sacred ‘pyramid’ hidden deep in the Amazon rainforest
The mysterious hill in Sudan that looks like ‘landlocked lips’
Planet Earth
Whale Valley: The whale graveyard in the Sahara desert that shows they once had feet and toes
Sascha Pare
4 July 2025
Egypt’s Whale Valley, or “Wadi Al-Hitan” in Arabic, holds more than 400 primitive whale skeletons that offer a snapshot of the evolution of these creatures from land-based to marine animals.
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works.
Egypt’s Wadi El-Hitan, or Valley of the Whales, was once covered with water and is now home to many ancient fossils of primitive whales.
(Image credit: Mohamed Elshahed/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
QUICK FACTS
Name: Wadi Al-Hitan, which translates to “Valley of the Whales” or “Whale Valley”
Location: Western Desert of Egypt
Coordinates: 29.26755158061781, 30.02249562989221
Why it’s incredible: The valley holds hundreds of primitive whale skeletons, some of which have “feet.”
Whale Valley is a region of the Egyptian Sahara desert that is peppered with archaic whale skeletons, some of which have feet and toes preserved.
These skeletons and other marine fossils date to the late Eocene epoch (55.8 million to 33.9 million years ago), when present-day Egypt was submerged beneath the Tethys Ocean and whales had just evolved into sea creatures, according to UNESCO.
“These fossils represent one of the major stories of evolution: the emergence of the whale as an ocean-going mammal from a previous life as a land-based animal,” UNESCO’s website says.
You may like
140,000 year old bones of our ancient ancestors found on sea floor, revealing secrets of extinct human species
Archaeologists unearth tree-lined walkway that led to ancient Egyptian fortress in Sinai Desert
Lake Natron: The caustic, blood-red lake in Tanzania that turns animals to ‘stone’
Paleontologists have unearthed more than 400 ancient whale skeletons in Whale Valley since the beginning of the 20th century, according to a UNESCO video. The first such discovery, in 1902, uncovered a never-before-seen whale species called Basilosaurus isis (formerly Zeuglodon isis). This whale grew up to 60 feet (18 meters) long and probably dined on smaller whales, crushing their skulls before gulping them down, according to a 2019 study.
Evidence suggests B. isis “had a long snout and was armed with pointed incisors and sharp cheek teeth,” Manja Voss, a marine mammal expert at the Berlin Museum of Natural History and the lead author of the 2019 study, previously told Live Science.
Related: Eye of the Sahara: Mauritania’s giant rock dome that towers over the desert
Researchers have found scores of B. isis skeletons in Whale Valley, but in 1989, paleontologists made a remarkable discovery: A team from the University of Michigan and the Egyptian Geological Museum unearthed B. isis skeletons with hind limbs, feet and toes, according to a 2023 review article.
Sign up for the Live Science daily newsletter now
Get the world’s most fascinating discoveries delivered straight to your inbox.
Contact me with news and offers from other Future brandsReceive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsorsBy submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over.
Modern-day whales lack hind limbs, but still have pelvic bones indicating that they once had them, according to the University of Hawaii. This means the fossils in Whale Valley are some of the oldest known archaeocetes, a group of mammals from the Eocene that later evolved into modern-day whales and dolphins, according to the 2023 review.
In 2005, paleontologists uncovered a stunningly preserved, near-complete B. isis skeleton, prompting UNESCO to list Whale Valley as a World Heritage site. Since then, plenty more fossils have emerged, including the remains of ancient Eocene turtles, bony fishes, sharks, rays, crocodiles, sea cows and shellfish, according to the review.
MORE INCREDIBLE PLACES
—Taal Lake: The volcanic crater that has ‘an island within a lake, within an island within a lake, within an island’
—Kilimanjaro’s giant groundsels: The strange plants that thrive on Africa’s tallest mountain
—North America’s ‘broken heart’: The billion-year-old scar from when the continent nearly ripped apart
These fossils have stood the test of time thanks to the region’s arid climate since the Pliocene (5.3 million to 2.6 million years ago), according to UNESCO.
Whale Valley operates as an open-air museum, complete with a visitor center and easy access for tourists, but the site is strictly protected. Researchers continue to find new fossils and learn more about the geology of the area, according to the review.
Discover more incredible places, where we highlight the fantastic history and science behind some of the most dramatic landscapes on Earth.
incredible places
Sascha Pare
Social Links Navigation
Staff writer
Sascha is a U.K.-based staff writer at Live Science. She holds a bachelor’s degree in biology from the University of Southampton in England and a master’s degree in science communication from Imperial College London. Her work has appeared in The Guardian and the health website Zoe. Besides writing, she enjoys playing tennis, bread-making and browsing second-hand shops for hidden gems.
You must confirm your public display name before commenting
Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name.
140,000 year old bones of our ancient ancestors found on sea floor, revealing secrets of extinct human species
Archaeologists unearth tree-lined walkway that led to ancient Egyptian fortress in Sinai Desert
Lake Natron: The caustic, blood-red lake in Tanzania that turns animals to ‘stone’
Wilkes Land crater: The giant hole in East Antarctica’s gravitational field likely caused by a meteorite
Jellyfish Lake: Palau’s saltwater pool with a toxic bottom and surface waters brimming with millions of jellyfish
El Cono: The mysterious sacred ‘pyramid’ hidden deep in the Amazon rainforest
Latest in Planet Earth
Rare snowfall in Atacama Desert forces the world’s most powerful radio telescope into ‘survival mode’
Watch mud volcano erupt beneath a crown of flames in Taiwan
Stunning cloud vortices swirl off 6 different Atlantic islands
World’s oldest rocks could shed light on how life emerged on Earth — and potentially beyond
‘It is our obligation to future generations’: Scientists want thousands of human poop samples for microbe ‘doomsday vault’
Mystery behind cold blob in the Atlantic Ocean finally solved
Latest in Features
Shingles popped a hole in a man’s bladder
Stunning cloud vortices swirl off 6 different Atlantic islands
Are cats the only animals that purr?
A cotton candy nebula glows in Vera C. Rubin Observatory’s first close-up image: Space photo of the week
A unique new blood type and ‘spiderwebs’ on Mars
What are whole-body MRIs, and are they worth the hype?
LATEST ARTICLES
May 2024 solar storm cost $500 million in damages to farmers, new study reveals
Save up to $200 on Celestron NexStar telescopes in these 4th of July deals ahead of Prime Day
Small, room-temperature quantum computers that use light on the horizon after breakthrough, scientists say
Can adults make new brain cells? New study may finally settle one of neuroscience’s greatest debates
RFK’s proposal to let bird flu spread through poultry could set us up for a pandemic, experts warn
Live Science is part of Future US Inc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. Visit our corporate site.
Contact Future’s experts
Terms and conditions
Privacy policy
Cookies policy
Accessibility Statement
Advertise with us
Web notifications
Editorial standards
How to pitch a story to us
Future US, Inc. Full 7th Floor, 130 West 42nd Street,
Please login or signup to comment
Please wait…