Giant ‘colossus’ whale that weighed 250,000lbs was ‘complete oddball’ with surprising hunting tactic
THE weight of a large ancient whale has been re-estimated by experts and it's still colossal.
It's called the Perucetus colossus and it was once thought to be the heaviest animal that ever lived.
The team behind the study thinks the ancient whale is more likely to have weighed 130,000 to 250,000 pounds.
"This animal would have been swimming vertically up all the time, which is impossible."
"There is particular fascination with identifying upper size extremes in the largest vertebrates, given the challenges and difficulties of measuring extant and extinct candidates for the largest animal of all time, such as whales, terrestrial non-avian dinosaurs, and extinct marine reptiles," the researchers wrote.
Paelontogolist Eli Amson was the leader of the first study.
He told Live Science that he stands by the original study and that his team gave a wider range was a conservative estimate for the creature's size.
Amson has also been quoted as describing the ancient whale as a "complete oddball."
The Perucetus colossus is said to have lived on the coast.
This is very strange for large aquatic creatures, which are usually associated with deep open water.