When Whales Could Walk | Full Documentary | NOVA | PBS

Fri, 06 Jun 2025 07:15:04 +0000

Giant fossils uncovered in the Sahara Desert reveal new secrets of how whales evolved.

Official Website: https://to.pbs.org/3S9epv9 | #novapbs

In Egypt’s Sahara Desert, massive skeletons with strange skulls and gigantic teeth jut out from the sandy ground. This fossil graveyard, millions of years old, is known as the “Valley of the Whales.” Now, paleontologists have unearthed a whole new species of ancient whale dating to 43 million years ago, and this predator wasn’t just able to swim – it also had four legs and could walk. Follow scientists as they search for new clues to the winding evolutionary path of mammals that moved from the land into the sea to become the largest animals on Earth.

Chapters
00:00 Introduction
02:12 Prehistoric Whale Fossils Found in Egypt
07:52 How Did Prehistoric Whales Evolve into Modern Whales?
14:06 Walking Whale Ancestor Discovered
19:00 Whales’ Closest Living Relatives
24:53 How Did Prehistoric Whales Lose Their Legs?
36:30 Evolutionary Adaptations of Modern Whales
50:10 Conclusion

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