A 340-tonne whale species lived 39 million years ago

Contact Counsellor

Last Updated08/08/2023

As per a study, the newly discovered Perucetus colossus, an ancient species of whale, is thought to be one of the largest and heaviest animals on record.
The findings suggest that the trend towards gigantism in marine mammals may have begun earlier than previously thought.

Scientists believe that it may have been heavier than a blue whale even though it may not have been as long.
- Researchers guess that P. colossus would have a body mass between 85 and 340 tonnes.
Its skeletal mass would have been two-three times that of the blue whale.
The animal’s bones had an unusually large volume and were also extremely dense.
This combination of thickening and densification of bones is called pachyosteosclerosis.
- The characteristic is absent in living whales, dolphins and porpoise.
- But it is present in sirenians, a marine mammal group that includes sea cows.
P. colossus probably lived in shallow coastal areas.
This would mean that it probably dived with air in its lungs.
- Whales that dive deep typically have the ability to completely empty their lungs to plummet into the depths of the ocean.
But diving with air in the lungs would make it quite difficult to stay near the seafloor—that is where the very heavy bones come in.