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.”
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In this June 2017, photo provided by Department of Earth Sciences, University of Pisa, disarticulated vertebrae of the skeleton of Perucetus colossus is excavated by Eusebio Diaz, from left, Alfredo Martinez and Walter Aguirre, in the Ica Province, southern Peru. Scientists reported Wednesday, Aug. 2, 2023, that the creature could challenge the blue whale’s title as the heaviest animal that lived on Earth. They’ve been digging up massive fossils from the creature in the Peruvian desert over the past decade. (Giovanni Bianucci/Department of Earth Sciences, University of Pisa, via AP)
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). The blue whale can also be longer, with some growing to more than 100 feet (30 meters) in length.
“It’s just exciting to see such a giant animal that’s so different from anything we know,” said Hans Thewissen, a…
