Paleontologists describe a strange whale species that weighed more than twice as much as the blue whale (85 - 340 tons) that once lived in the ancient seas of what is now Peru.
Reconstructed appearance of Perucetus colossus. Photo: Alberto Gennari
A giant ancient whale that lived 39 million years ago was a beast. It was more than twice as big as the blue whale, the heaviest animal ever to live on Earth. Researchers have named the extinct sauribasilod cetacean Perucetus colossus . Its body mass is estimated at between 85,000 and 340,000 kilograms (185,000 and 770,000 pounds). P. colossus was about 20 meters (66 feet) long, longer than a bowling alley, according to new research published on August 2 in the journal Nature .
Paleontologists discovered the massive marine mammal’s partial skeleton 30 years ago in Peru’s southern Ica province. They have since unearthed 13 vertebrae, four ribs and a hip bone.
"One of my colleagues saw the exposed bones while looking for fossils in the Peruvian desert," said lead researcher Eli Amson, a paleontologist and curator of fossil mammals at the Stuttgart Natural History Museum in Germany. "The fossils took a long time to excavate because of their large size. Each vertebra weighed up to 150 kg."
The team could only estimate how large P. colossus was based on the limited number of bones they unearthed, as most of the animal had decomposed over time, including all of its soft tissue. However, the bones they collected were very dense, meaning they were very heavy. To support such a heavy skeleton, the team speculates that the whale’s soft tissue was likely lighter than its bones, allowing it to float more easily.
As a result, P. colossus certainly had a very strange appearance. The team describes it as resembling a modern manatee, with a very small head, a huge body, and tiny arms and legs. In terms of mass, P. colossus was clearly larger than the blue whale, according to Amson. Its body length was shorter than the blue whale's. However, it is difficult to estimate exactly how much fat and soft tissue surrounded the skeleton.
The odd shape may have helped P. colossus maintain buoyancy and allowed it to glide slowly through the water, similar to a manatee. Not only does P. colossus shatter the perception of what the heaviest animal on the planet looks like, it also challenges what researchers know about the evolution of cetaceans. The finding means they reached their peak body mass 30 million years earlier than previously thought.
"P. colossus was certainly very slow-moving and dived in shallow water. We don't know what it ate because its head and teeth are missing. Our guess is that it spent most of its time on the seafloor and didn't burn much energy searching for food sources," Amson said.
An Khang (According to Live Science )
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