PERU: Paleontologists discover new ancient whale which had enormous teeth - making it one of the biggest and most fearsome ocean predators
Record ID:
572652
PERU: Paleontologists discover new ancient whale which had enormous teeth - making it one of the biggest and most fearsome ocean predators
- Title: PERU: Paleontologists discover new ancient whale which had enormous teeth - making it one of the biggest and most fearsome ocean predators
- Date: 2nd July 2010
- Summary: LIMA, PERU (JUNE 30, 2010) (REUTERS) GENERAL VIEW OF PERUVIAN PALEONTOLOGIST RODOLFO SALAS WORKING ON FOSSILS OF TEETH BELONGING TO NEW SPECIES OF WHALE KNOWN TO BE A LEVIATHAN FOSSILIZED TOOTH VARIOUS OF SALAS WORKING ON FOSSILS FOSSILIZED TEETH PLACED INSIDE JAW OF GIANT SKULL SALAS MEASURING SKULL (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) SALAS SAYING: "The fossil was discovered in 2008 and published in the magazine Nature. It's the skull and jaw of a whale fossil that had very different characteristics from modern whales. This fossil was found in the Ocucaje desert within rocks that are more or less 12 million years old. We are talking about a notably sized predator based on the size of the teeth, the thickness of the skull, the size of the crater that indicates it would have had very very strong jaw muscles." FOSSILIZED JAW (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) SALAS SAYING: "It has been described as a gigantic predator, more than likely, one of the strongest predators to have existed on earth. It is calculated that it reached some 16 metres in length and the skull measures some three metres in length, the teeth, each one of them, reaches 36 centimetres in length." FOSSILIZED TEETH (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) SALAS SAYING: "It is very notable, much bigger than modern whales." VARIOUS OF PALEONTOLOGISTS WORKING ON FOSSIL (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) SALAS SAYING: "This leviathan was, without a doubt, the biggest predator to have lived in the ocean, however, not necessarily the biggest in terms of size because there were whales that were larger but were not active predators. The whales would feed on small invertebrates if this was the largest predator to have existed in the ocean." COMPUTER SCREEN DEPICTING GRAPHICS OF JAW OF LEVIATHAN COMPARED TO THAT OF MODERN WHALES SALAS POINTING OUT DIFFERENCES IN SIZE OF JAW STILL PHOTO OF OCUCAJE DESERT WHERE FOSSIL WAS FOUND SALAS SITTING AT COMPUTER SHOWING GRAPHIC IMAGES OF LEVIATHAN AND COMPARING IT TO MODERN WHALES
- Embargoed: 17th July 2010 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Peru
- Country: Peru
- Topics: Environment / Natural World,Science / Technology
- Reuters ID: LVAC1S6DPX8YKCCVPHVZ966AOTS6
- Story Text: A team of international researchers are celebrating the discovery of the remains of a giant whale - a new species which had fearsomely large teeth.
The whale was an ancestor of the sperm whale that roamed the seas some 12 million years ago and probably fed on other whales, Peruvian paleontologists said on Wednesday (June 30).
Although similar in size to the sperm whale, the Leviathan melvillei, which was named after Moby Dick's author Herman Melville, had the bloodthirst of an orca and fed on other whales at a time when cetaceans ruled the seas.
"It has been described as a gigantic predator, more than likely, one of the strongest predators to have existed on earth," Peruvian paleontologist Rodolfo Salas told Reuters on Wednesday (June 30). "It is calculated that it reached some 16 metres in length and the skull measures some three metres in length, the teeth, each one of them, reaches 36 centimetres in length."
As well as ten teeth the size of an adult man's forearm, a team of French, Dutch, Belgian and Peruvian paleontologists also found the whale's skull and its lower jaw, which will be exhibited in Lima's natural history museum shortly.
The discovery was made in 2008 in the Ocucaje in southern Peru, which millions of years ago was the bed of a shallow sea, and an area that has yielded amazing discoveries for anthropologists studying prehistoric sea life. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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