A 340-tonne whale species lived 39 million years ago

Subject :Environment

Section: Species in news

Context:

The newly discovered Perucetus colossus, an ancient species of whale, is thought to be one of the largest and heaviest animals on record.

Perucetus colossus:

The species is discovered in Southern Peru and estimated to be approximately 39 million years old.
Estimates of its size and weight, based on a partial skeleton, rival those of the blue whale, which was previously thought to be the heaviest animal ever to exist.
- It is predicted that the skeletal mass would be two-three times that of a 25-metres-long blue whale.
The findings suggest that the trend towards gigantism in marine mammals may have begun earlier than previously thought.
The ancient whale species displays the highest degree of bone mass increase known to date, an adaptation associated with shallow diving.
The estimated skeletal mass of P. colossus exceeds that of any known mammal or aquatic vertebrate.