Wadi al Hitan
Paleontological site in the Faiyum Governorate of Egypt / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Wadi El-Ḥitan (Arabic: وادي الحيتان, lit. 'Wadi of the Whales' Egyptian Arabic pronunciation: [ˈwa.diː elˈħit.æːn] ⓘ) is a paleontological site in the Faiyum Governorate of Egypt, some 151 kilometres (94 mi) south-west of Cairo.[1] It was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site[2] in July 2005[3] for its hundreds of fossils of some of the earliest forms of whale, the archaeoceti (a now extinct sub-order of whales). The site reveals evidence for the explanation of one of the greatest mysteries of the evolution of whales: the emergence of the whale as an ocean-going mammal from a previous life as a land-based animal.[4]
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UNESCO World Heritage Site | |
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Location | Faiyum Governorate, Egypt |
Reference | 1186 |
Inscription | 2005 (29th Session) |
Area | 200.15 km2 (49,458 acres) |
Buffer zone | 58.85 km2 (14,542 acres) |
Coordinates | 29°20′N 30°11′E |
No other place in the world yields the number, concentration and quality of such fossils, nor their accessibility and setting in an attractive and protected landscape.[5] The valley was therefore inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2005.[2]