Why in the News?

Perucetus colossus, whose fossils were discovered in Peru, maybe the heaviest discovered animal ever, even heavier than the blue whale.

About Perucetus colossus:

• The whale species Perucetus colossus is known from a recently described fossil dating back over 38 million years.
• Despite potentially being shorter in length, scientists believe that this ancient whale species might have been heavier than the modern blue whale.
• Researchers estimate that the weight of the Perucetus colossus could have ranged from 85 to an astonishing 340 tonnes.
• The fossilized bones of this species exhibited an unusual combination of large volume and extreme density, a characteristic known as pachyosteosclerosis.
• Pachyosteosclerosis is not observed in living whales, dolphins, and porpoises, but it is present in sirenians, a marine mammal group that includes sea cows.
• Unlike deep-diving whales, Perucetus colossus likely lived in shallow coastal areas, suggesting that it might have dived with air in its lungs.
• However, diving with air in the lungs would make it challenging to stay near the seafloor.
• The heavy bones of the Perucetus colossus might have played a crucial role in enabling it to do so.
• The skeletal mass of the Perucetus colossus is estimated to have been between five and eight tons, double that of a modern blue whale.