IN a groundbreaking discovery, scientists have unearthed the fossil remains of a prehistoric whale named Perucetus colossus, revealing that it is the largest animal to have ever lived on earth, surpassing the blue whale‘s size.
Led by paleontologist Giovanni Bianucci from The University of Pisa, Italy, the Research Published in the Journal Nature Estimates that the Perucetus colossus lived about 38-40 million years ago during the Eocene Epoch and weighed a staggering 340 metric tonnes.
Measuring around 66 feet or 20 meters in length, Perucetus colossus dwarfs the largest-known blue whale, which weighed approximately 190 tonnes.
The partial skeleton discovered in Peru includes 13 vertebrae, four ribs, and one hip bone, with an estimated skeletal mass of five to eight tonnes – at least twice that of the blue whale.
Despite its impressive size, questions about its diet and lifestyle remain unanswered as researchers are yet to find its cranial or tooth remains.
Bianucci suggests the possibility of it being “herbivorous like the Sirenians, but this would be the only case among cetaceans.
Perhaps it fed on small mollusks and crustaceans in sandy bottoms like the extant gray whale.
Or it could have been a scavenger on vertebrate carcasses, similar to some extant large-body sharks.”
The discovery of the Perucetus colossus sheds new light on the ancient biodiversity of our planet and challenges our understanding of the largest creatures to have ever roamed the earth.
