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A newly studied species of ancient whale might be the heaviest animal ever found. Scientists reported Wednesday the creature could challenge the blue whale's title as the heaviest animal to live on Earth.
Each vertebra weighs over 220 pounds and its ribs measure nearly 5 feet long.
Scientists have discovered a new species of ancient whale, called Perucetus colossus, which weighed up to 340 tonnes and lived in South America more than 39 million years ago.
There could be a new contender for heaviest animal to ever live. While today's blue whale has long held the title, scientists have dug up fossils from an ancient giant that could tip the scales. Researchers described the new species — named Perucetus colossus, or “the colossal whale from Peru” — in the journal Nature on Wednesday. Each vertebra weighs over 220 pounds (100 kilograms) and its ribs measure nearly 5 feet (1.4 meters) long.
“I’ve never seen anything like it,” says a paleontologist not involved in the discovery of a 40-million-year-old fossilized whale