There could be a new contender for heaviest animal to ever live. While today91裸聊视频檚 blue whale has long held the title, scientists have dug up fossils from an ancient giant that could tip the scales.
Researchers described the new species 91裸聊视频� named Perucetus colossus, or 91裸聊视频渢he colossal whale from Peru91裸聊视频� 91裸聊视频� on Wednesday. Each vertebra weighs over 220 pounds (100 kilograms) and its ribs measure nearly 5 feet (1.4 meters) long.
91裸聊视频淚t91裸聊视频檚 just exciting to see such a giant animal that91裸聊视频檚 so different from anything we know,91裸聊视频� 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 Marcos91裸聊视频� 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 whale91裸聊视频檚 backbone, four ribs and a hip bone.
The massive fossils, which are 39 million years old, 91裸聊视频渁re unlike anything I91裸聊视频檝e ever seen,91裸聊视频� said study author Alberto Collareta, a paleontologist at Italy91裸聊视频檚 University of Pisa.
After the excavations, the researchers used 3D scanners to study the surface of the bones and drilled into them to peek inside. They used the huge 91裸聊视频� but incomplete 91裸聊视频� skeleton to estimate the whale91裸聊视频檚 size and weight, using modern marine mammals for comparison, said study author Eli Amson, a paleontologist at the State Museum of Natural History in Stuttgart, Germany.
They calculated that the ancient giant weighed somewhere between 94 and 375 tons (85 and 340 metric tons). The biggest blue whales found have been within that range 91裸聊视频� at around 200 tons (180 metric tons).
Its body stretched to around 66 feet (20 meters) long. Blue whales can be longer 91裸聊视频� with some growing to more than 100 feet (30 meters) in length.
This means the newly discovered whale was 91裸聊视频減ossibly the heaviest animal ever,91裸聊视频� Collareta said, but 91裸聊视频渋t was most likely not the longest animal ever.91裸聊视频�
It weighs more in part because its bones are much denser and heavier than a blue whale91裸聊视频檚, Amson explained.
Those super-dense bones suggest that the whale may have spent its time in shallow, coastal waters, the authors said. Other coastal dwellers, like manatees, have heavy bones to help them stay close to the seafloor.
Without the skull, it91裸聊视频檚 hard to know what the whale was eating to sustain such a huge body, Amson said.
It91裸聊视频檚 possible that P. colossus was scavenging for food along the seafloor, researchers said, or eating up tons of krill and other tiny sea creatures in the water.
But 91裸聊视频淚 wouldn91裸聊视频檛 be surprised if this thing actually fed in a totally different way that we would never imagine,91裸聊视频� Thewissen added.
___
The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute91裸聊视频檚 Science and Educational Media Group. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
Maddie Burakoff, The Associated Press
Like us on and follow us on .
