World’s heaviest animal may be ancient whale found in the desert: scientistsBy Lawrence Richard, Fox News
August 3, 2023
The heaviest animal to have ever lived may have been an ancient colossal whale that was recently discovered in Peru, scientists said.
Scientists have been digging up massive fossils of the new species — named Perucetus colossus, or “the colossal whale from Peru” — in the Ica desert, a region in Peru that was once underwater over the past decade.
The discovery was unveiled in a Nature journal published on Wednesday, Aug. 2.
According to the journal, titled “A heavyweight early whale pushes the boundaries of vertebrate morphology,” researchers calculated the ancient giant weighed somewhere between 94 and 375 tons (85 and 340 metric tons).
Its body stretched to around 66 feet (20 meters) long.
The Perucetus colossus was “possibly the heaviest animal ever,” said study author Eli Amson, a paleontologist at the State Museum of Natural History in Stuttgart, Germany, but “it was most likely not the longest animal ever.”
If confirmed, the Peruvian whale would take the top spot from the blue whale, the largest of which weighs within that range at around 200 tons (180 metric tons).
* * *
Source:
https://nypost.com/2023/08/03/worlds-heaviest-animal-may-be-ancient-whale-found-in-the-peruvian-desert-scientists-say/
