Ancient whale found in Peru may be heaviest animal in world
BY ASSOCIATED PRESS
NEW YORK AUG 02, 2023 - 9:47 PM GMT+3
Scientists excavate a vertebra fossil of Perucetus colossus, a huge early whale that lived about 38-40 million years ago, in a remote coastal desert in southern Peru, as seen in this undated photograph. (Giovanni Bianucci/Handout via Reuters)
Archaeologists in Peru may have discovered the world’s heaviest animal ever to live, breaking the record of the blue whale.
Researchers described the new species — named Perucetus colossus, or “the colossal whale from Peru” — on Wednesday. Each vertebra weighs over 220 pounds (100 kilograms) and its ribs measure nearly 5 feet (1.4 meters) long.
“It’s just exciting to see such a giant animal that’s so different from anything we know,” said Hans Thewissen, a paleontologist at Northeast Ohio Medical University who had no role in the research.
The bones were first discovered more than a decade ago by Mario Urbina from the University of San Marcos’ Natural History Museum in Lima. An international team spent years digging them out from the side of a steep, rocky slope in the Ica desert, a region in Peru that was once underwater and is known for its rich marine fossils — the results: 13 vertebrae from the whale’s backbone, four ribs and a hip bone.
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https://www.dailysabah.com/life/history/ancient-whale-found-in-peru-may-be-heaviest-animal-in-world
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By Kristen Rogers, CNN
Published 11:41 AM EDT, Wed August 2, 2023
Pictured is a reconstruction of Perucetus colossus in its coastal habitat.
Alberto Gennari
CNN
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A colossal ancient whale discovered in Peru might be the heaviest animal on record, according to a new study.
At an estimated body mass of 85 to 340 metric tons (187,393 to 749,572 pounds), the heft of the now-extinct Perucetus colossus is equivalent to or exceeds that of the blue whale, which had indisputably been considered the animal with the greatest body mass until now, said Giovanni Bianucci, first author of the study published Wednesday in the journal Nature.
The partial skeleton of Perucetus, consisting of 13 vertebrae, four ribs and one hip bone, is estimated to be 17 to 20 meters (55.8 to 65.6 feet) long. The fossil specimen is shorter than that of a 25-meter long (82-foot-long) blue whale — but its skeletal mass still potentially exceeded that of any known mammal or sea vertebrate, including its gigantic relative, according to the study.
What’s more, Perucetus likely weighed two to three times more than the blue whale, which today weighs a maximum of 149.6 metric tons (330,000 pounds).
“Perucetus could have weighed almost two blue whales, three Argentinosaurs (a giant sauropod dinosaur), over 30 African bush elephants and as many as 5,000 people,” Bianucci said via email. He is an associate professor of paleontology at the University of Pisa’s department of Earth sciences in Italy.
More:
https://us.cnn.com/2023/08/02/world/ancient-colossal-whale-perucetus-colossus-scn/index.html
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