Its length can exceed 30 meters and its weight can be up to 200 tons.2,700 average-weight humans weigh 30 elephants, or twice the size of the largest dinosaurs. Only an adult species can have a tongue heavier than an elephant’s. Your heart is like a small car. AND The blood vessels are so large that a normal-sized person can swim in them..
Blue whale (balaenoptera muscle) has been considered the largest animal to exist on Earth for centuries. Until now. Because a new archaeological discovery recorded in Peru may eliminate this title as soon as it is comprehensively supported by science: Fossil remains of another whale that has been extinct for thousands of years have been found; It was much larger than the blue whale.Its dimensions were such that its discoverers dubbed it the ‘Giant Peruvian whale’ (Perucetus giant), heaviest animal of all time.
The body mass of this amazing animal, which lived 38 million years ago, may have been: 85 to 340 tons. This last figure is equivalent to 50 large adult African elephants or 5,000 humans. The animal whose remains were found may still be growing. It is a new species belonging to the basilosaurus family of the order Cetacea, which includes whales, dolphins and porpoises.
The find consists of 13 vertebrae, 4 ribs and a hip bone. According to the research, the animal’s length was between 17 and 20 meters. The fossil specimen was shorter than a blue whale, but its skeletal mass potentially exceeds that of any known cetacean or vertebrate.Including its gigantic relative.
extreme adaptations
The authors of the study say that such thickening of the skeleton and the resulting weight known as ‘pachyosteosclerosis‘ is not found in any living cetacean, but is found among sirensLarge aquatic herbivorous mammals such as manatees, manatees, and dugongs.
The study states that The fossil record of cetaceans documents how land-dwelling animals acquired extreme adaptations and transitioned to a fully aquatic lifestyle. In whales, this is associated with a significant increase in maximum body size.
“Although an elongated body was acquired early in the evolution of cetaceans, the maximum body mass of bald whales reflects recent diversification that culminated in the blue whale,” the study states. “More generally, gigantism is now known among aquatic tetrapods that have evolved into active pelagic swimmers,” he adds.
The study authors explain: Perucetus giantA basilosaurid whale from the middle Eocene period of Peru. “As far as we know, it shows that: highest known degree of bone mass increase “an adaptation that has until now been associated with shallow diving,” they emphasize.
“Estimated skeletal mass Perucetus giant exceeds that of any known aquatic mammal or vertebrate“, as noted by scientists who used the skeletal fraction found to estimate total body mass, “it turned out to be a contender for the title of heaviest animal on record.”
Another result: “Maximum body mass of cetaceans was reached about 30 million years earlier than previously thought. previously, in coastal conditions where primary productivity was particularly high.” Until now, gigantism in whales was believed to have occurred 4.5 million years ago.
A ‘graveyard’ of fossil vertebrates
The weight and size of the species may have been revealed Evolutionary adaptations to life in shallow and wavy coastal waters This is where a particularly heavy skeleton would act as ‘ballast’ for stability, according to the researchers.
It was a completely aquatic animal and did not even return to land to give birth, as its enormous weight would make its movement on land very problematic due to gravity.
The surprising discovery is the fruit of 17 years of work by a large scientific team in the Ica Valley in southern Peru. A veritable ‘graveyard’ of vertebrate fossilswhere other examples have been found before Peregocetus pacificus, the oldest known quadruped cetacean from the Pacific Ocean; The earliest ancestor of modern baleen whales is Mystacodon Selenesis, or the enormous macropropagated sperm whale Livyatan melvillei.
The first vertebra of a giant whale in Peru was discovered in 2012. The name that scientists chose for this gigantic creature reflects, on the one hand, its geographical origin, Peru; On the other hand, ‘Cetus’ is the Latin word for whale; And finally, ‘Kolossós’ means ‘large statue’ in ancient Greek.
Although the lack of a skull makes it difficult to know what its diet was, the study’s authors provide three hypotheses. It may have fed on plantsLike sea cows, this herbivorous diet would be unique among cetaceans.
A second possibility is that it feeds on it. small molluscs and crustaceans On sandy bottoms like the contemporary gray whale. Third alternative maybe Perucetus giant could have been scavenger of vertebrate corpses. But scientists do not rule out other possibilities, a diet “completely different from what we imagined.”
Reference report: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-023-06381-1
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