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A really big fossil whale

A newly discovered fossil of an extinct whale from Peru indicates that the animal’s skeleton was unexpectedly enormous. This finding challenges our understanding of body-size evolution.
  1. J. G. M. Thewissen

    1. J. G. M. Thewissen is in the Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology, Northeast Ohio Medical University, Rootstown, Ohio 44272, USA.

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  2. David A. Waugh

    1. David A. Waugh is in the Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology, Northeast Ohio Medical University, Rootstown, Ohio 44272, USA.

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Whales, dolphins and porpoises belong to a group called cetaceans, which includes the largest known animals to have ever lived on Earth. Until now it had been assumed that the blue whale (Balaenoptera musculus) holds the record for the largest body size. However, writing in Nature, Bianucci et al.1 challenge that assumption in their presentation of fossil evidence from a 39-million-year-old whale found in Peru. This whale, a member of the basilosaurid group (a family of extinct cetaceans), not only had an extremely large body size, but also had an exceptionally heavy skeleton relative to its body mass. Discoveries of such extreme body forms are an opportunity to re-evaluate our understanding of animal evolution — it seems that we are only dimly aware of how astonishing whale form and function can be.

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Nature 620, 734-735 (2023)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-023-02408-9

References

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Competing Interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

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