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The heaviest animal that ever lived on Earth is discovered

2023-08-03 10:28:02Lifestyle SHKRUAR NGA REDAKSIA VOX
The heaviest animal that ever lived on Earth is discovered
Perucetus colossus

Scientists have identified a new candidate for the heaviest animal ever on planet Earth. According to the BBC, it is about an ancient whale, long gone, which would have tipped the scales at close to 200 tons.

Only a few of the largest specimens of the blue whale could have rivaled its weight, researchers say. Fossilized bones of the creature were excavated in the desert in southern Peru, hence the name Perucetus colossus. Dating of the sediments around the remains suggests that he lived about 39 million years ago.

"The fossils were actually discovered 13 years ago, but their size and shape meant it took three years just to get them to Lima (Peru's capital), where they have been studied ever since," said Dr Eli Amson, a collaborator, worker in the discovery team led by paleontologist Dr Mario Urbina.

Eighteen bones were found from the marine mammal, an early type of whale known as a basilosaurid. These included 13 vertebrae, four ribs and part of a femur.

But even given these fragmentary elements and their age, scientists were still able to decipher a great deal about the creature.

In particular, it is clear that the bones were extremely dense, caused by a process known as osteosclerosis, in which internal cavities fill up. The bones were also oversized, in the sense that they had extra growth on their outer surfaces, something called pachyostosis.

These were not disease traits, the team said, but rather adaptations that would have given this large whale the necessary flight control when foraging in shallow water. Similar bony features are seen in manatees, for example, which also inhabit coastal areas in certain parts of the world.

When faced with a skeleton of a long-extinct species, scientists use models to try to reconstruct the animal's body shape and mass. They do this based on what they know about the biology of comparable living creatures.

It is estimated that Perucetus would have been about 17-20 mi long, which is not unusual. But her bone mass alone would be somewhere between 5.3 and 7.6 tons. And by the time you add organs, muscles and particles, it could have weighed anywhere between 85 tons and 320 tons depending on the guesswork.

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