The partial skeleton of Perucetus, consisting of 13 vertebrae, four ribs and one hip bone, is estimated to be 17 to 20 meters long. The fossil specimen is shorter than the 25-meter-long blue whale, but according to the study, its skeletal mass still potentially exceeded that of any known mammal or marine vertebrate, including its gigantic relative.
Furthermore, Perucetus probably weighed two to three times more than the blue whale, which today weighs no more than 149.6 tons.
“Perucetus could weigh almost as much as two blue whales, three Argentinosaurs (giant sauropod dinosaurs), more than 30 African bush elephants and as many as 5,000 people,” Giovanni Bianucci, an associate professor of paleontology in the Department of Earth Sciences at the University of Pisa in Italy, said in an email.
Perucetus likely swam slowly due to its enormous body mass and swimming style that was undulating and angular, meaning that its flexible body moved in curved waves from its head to its tail.
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2023-08-02 23:45:08
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