WHALE
SPECIES - ENVIRONMENT
News: A 340-tonne whale species lived 39
million years ago
What's
in the news?
● 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.