Old bones shed new light on Saudi marine life
Experts in Jouf region uncover fossilized skeleton of a whale extinct for 37 million years
Researchers in Saudi Arabia have uncovered the fossilized remains of an ancient whale that became extinct 37 million years ago.
The find, in a “graveyard” of fossilized whale bones, was made in the Jouf region by a team of eight Saudi and international geologists and paleontologists as part of the Saudi Geological Survey (SGS).
Hailed as scientifically significant, it will reveal secrets about the Kingdom’s geology and marine environment, and shine light on the geographical distribution of ancient marine mammals in northwestern Saudi Arabia.
The fossilized whale was found at Al-Rashrashiyah cliffs, a few kilometers north of the Qurayyat governorate, in the Kingdom’s northwest near the Jordanian border. The area features sandy and rocky mountains belonging to the Priabonian period, known as Upper Eocene Era.
It is the first time an almost complete skeleton of an Eocene whale has been found in the Kingdom, Iyad Zalmout, a US paleontology and geology technical adviser for the SGS, told Arab News.
“The SGS paleontology team is optimistic that this will be a complete skeleton and will make appealing scientific research, and replicas of its skeleton will be displayed in local and international museums around the world,” he said.
The bones are those of a relatively small whale, about 3 meters long. “It is similar in size and morphology to the partial skeleton of a small whale found back in 1902 and later in 1991 in the western desert of Egypt,” Zalmout said.
“That was collected from the Upper Eocene rocks of the Fayum region. However, the new material from Saudi Arabia is more complete and will add more information to this group of whales.”