Podcast Episode Details

The Largest Sea Creature of All Time Found in the Desert

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The largest sea creature of all time was recently discovered—but in the middle of a desert in Peru! Scientists found the fossilized remains of an ancient whale, believed to have lived over 30 million years ago. This massive creature, called Perucetus colossus, could have weighed up to 200 tons, rivaling or even surpassing today’s blue whales. Finding it in a desert is wild, but back in its day, that area was underwater, part of a prehistoric ocean. Its bones were so dense and heavy that researchers think it might’ve been a slow swimmer, spending most of its time floating and feeding. This discovery is rewriting what we know about ancient marine life and just how gigantic creatures could get!

Credit:

Whale Vertebrae: By Nancy Hann, CC BY 2.0 ⁠https://creativecommons.org/licenses/...⁠, ⁠https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index...⁠

Serra da Capivara: By Vitor 1234, CC BY-SA 3.0 ⁠https://creativecommons.org/licenses/...⁠, ⁠https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index...⁠

CC BY-SA 4.0 ⁠https://creativecommons.org/licenses/...⁠

Perucetus colossus: By Stegotyranno, ⁠https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index...⁠

Skeleton of Whale: By Zacharia Nyambu, ⁠https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index...⁠

Perucetus & Ocucajea: By SpinoDragon145, Published on 4 months, 1 week ago