Project Description: This project supports a collaborative research between Dr. Philip Gingrich, Museum of Paleontology at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor and Dr. Moustafa Fouda, Egyptian Environmental Affairs Agency (EEAA), Cairo, Egypt. They will conduct research on archaeocete whales and other fossile vertebrates of Eocene Wadi Hitan, in the Fayoum region in Egypt. A rich fauna of well-preserved archaeocete fossil whales has been developed in Wadi Hitan in western Fayum Province, Egypt. This area is now part of the Wadi Rayan Protected Area and a popular desert tourist destination.
Intellectual merit: The research is designed to discover, map, collect, and describe new fossil whales in Wadi Hitan and in the surrounding desert-- in strata that are geologically both older and younger. Older fossil whales are important for understanding the transition from earlier semiaquatic protocetid archaeocetes to the aquatic basilosaurids preserved in Wadi Hitan, and younger fossil whales are important for understanding the transition from aquatic basilosauruds in Wadi Hitan to modern whales like those living today.
Broader impacts: Part of this research is applied and educational in that it involves development of public exhibits of Wadi Hitan fossil whales in the Wadi Rayan Visitors Center and the Cairo Geological Museum to enhance public understanding of whale evolution and our place in the natural world. New discoveries of fossil whales, new exhibits related to these, and publicity surrounding both are expected to contribute to sustainable development of ecotourism at the Wadi Hitan field site. This project is being supported under the US-Egypt Joint Fund Program, which provides grants to scientists and engineers in both countries to carry out these cooperative activities.
