
It is one of the driest regions of the world, receiving just a few inches of rain a year, but the bodies of whales are emerging from the shifting sands of the Egyptian Sahara Desert.

The fossilised remains are helping to reveal how much of Egypt was once covered by a vast ancient ocean around 50 million years ago.

Known as Wadi al-Hitan, or the Valley of the Whales, the area contains the fossilised bones of an ancestor of modern whales which have fascinated tourists and palaeontologists alike since they were first discovered in 1902.

It is now being set up as an open air museum to show off the beasts that once swam over the area, 93 miles (150 km) southwest of Cairo.

Wadi al-Hitan, or the Valley of the Whales, boasts a fascinating collection of fossils of ancient sea creatures because the area was underwater 50 million years ago at the bottom of an ocean called the Tethys Sea, which occupied the space in between Africa and Asia

The Valley of the Whales in Egypt is home to some of the most remarkable paleontological sites on Earth due to its unusual history.

Around 50 million years ago the area was at the bottom of an ocean called the Tethys Sea, which occupied the space in between Africa and Asia before India joined with the continent, pushing up the Himalayas.

The whale skeletons in the region offer a glimpse into the past, as the species of whale that once called this desert valley home is now extinct.

The Archaeoceti - which means 'ancient wales' – found in Wadi al-Hitan are some of the earliest forms of whales to emerge.

Cetaceans evolved from a land-based creature with legs, which is why many species of whale and dolphin have a phantom hip bone where the legs once attached to the body.

The whale skeletons in the region offer a glimpse into the past, as the species of whale that once called this desert valley home, the Archaeoceti, is now extinct

Over millions of years of evolution legs became redundant for the seafaring creatures, but some of the Archaeoceti skeletons found in Wadi al-Hitan have their legs, complete with toes, intact

Tourists walk around the rocks in the natural reserve area of Wadi AL-Hitan and can see the whale fossils as they pass

Despite whale fossils being discovered in the area over one hundred years ago, it was only made into a conservation area in the 80s, and it now acts as an open air museum, such is the rich variety of its fossils

Over millions of years of evolution, legs became redundant for the seafaring creatures, but some of the Archaeoceti skeletons found in Wadi al-Hitan still have their legs, complete with toes, intact.

This offers a glimpse into the evolutionary past of the whale to a time when it was still adapting to its ocean environment.

Despite whale fossils being discovered in the area over one hundred years ago, it was only made into a conservation area in the 80s, and it now acts as an open air museum, such is the rich variety of its fossils.

Fossilised sharks, whales and plants have allowed palaeontologists to build a picture of the ancient ecology of the lost Tethys sea.

The geology of the area combines sandstone and limestone deposited by the ancient ocean with a desert landscape of sand dunes.

Over the years erosion from wind and sand has slowly revealed the fossilised skeletons trapped and preserved in the sandstone formations.

Two types of whale have been uncovered in Wadi al-Hitan, the basilosaurus, measuring up to 20 metres, and the smaller dorudon.

The Valley of the Whales is a UNESCO world heritage site.

THE WHALE SKELETON THAT REVEALS HOW MAN EVOLVED TO WALK ON TWO LEGS A whale that swam hundreds of miles up an African river after taking a wrong turn 17 million years ago is helping shed light on a key moment in human evolution. Palaeontologists discovered the fossilised remains of the ancient ancestor to modern beaked whales in the middle of one of the harshest desert areas of Turkana, Kenya. It has allowed scientists to pinpoint when the landscape in east Africa began to change as the land around the Great Rift Valley began to rise up. This was a crucial moment in human evolution from primates as it created the dry open habitats that led our ape-like ancestors to walk upright for the first time. They say that for the whale to have travelled so far inland in a river the area must have been much wetter, far flatter and dominated by forests. Professor Louis Jacobs, a vertebrate palaeontologist at Southern Methodist University in Dallas who led the study, said: 'The whale was stranded up river at a time when east Africa was at sea level and was covered with forest and jungle. 'As that part of the continent rose up, that caused the climate to become drier and drier. So over millions of years, forest gave way to grasslands. 'Primates evolved to adapt to grasslands and dry country. And that's when - in human evolution - the primates started to walk upright.' Advertisement