Perucetus colossus

[Stegotyranno420]

A new whale of immense proportions was described recently. But I do have my doubts on the size and body structure, not that I can prove them, but one of those "gut feelings"
Only paper I could find at this moment
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-023-06381-1

[Bread]

This one works: https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2023/08/02/largest-animal-whale-p-colossus/

But it's washington post, so take it with a grain of salt.

A large predator at that size, even exceeding the size of a blue whale seems highly unlikely. Size of this is probably greatly exaggerated.

[Stegotyranno420]

This one works: https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2023/08/02/largest-animal-whale-p-colossus/

But it's washington post, so take it with a grain of salt.

A large predator at that size, even exceeding the size of a blue whale seems highly unlikely. Size of this is probably greatly exaggerated.

No, I rather take it with all the salt in its environment 

[Faelrin]

I grabbed this pic as it was shared on the r/naturewasmetal subreddit:



So I don't know if the diagrams are to scale, but if they are it looks like the blue whale was technically larger overall in body size, but however this new genus would weigh more then it because of it having denser bones.

The comment here on the reddit post I grabbed that pic from seems worth a read (if not more of the discussion taking place there), and there's some other skeletals shared that might be better then the one from the paper above. The consensus there also seems to be that they overestimated its size too much.

And as expected the media is going wild with it claiming this is bigger then the blue whale, which might not even be true, if there are indeed problems with the size estimate from this paper. Granted if it was, it would be pretty exciting to find something like that, and it doesn't hurt to remain open-minded of the fact the fossil record is incomplete, and there could truly be things out there bigger then what we have. At the same time, there are also biological limits, and it might be that the blue whale only became the largest because it had the right niche, environmental conditions, etc.

Edit: Worth noting they don't even have the skull either, which is important for figuring out the animal's diet, etc. At best they can extrapolate from other basilosaurids.

[Carnoking]

The artwork... I can't... I'm wheezing!
What an absolute UNIT

[Lynx]

[Faelrin]

@Carnoking It's even better in the full size pic:



Reminds me of Cotylorhynchus a bit too much lol. The vestigial legs just make it even funnier, although I'm doubting they would be external.

[Stegotyranno420]

I dont get it can you explain.

@Faelrin
Cotylrhynchus from heaven saying "thats my boy"

[Gothmog the Baryonyx]

I knew this big boi would be mentioned here. I wouldn't be surprised if it was in the lower size estimate overall, but still a wonderful animal.

[Pliosaurking]

OH LAWD HE COMING

[Dusty Wren]

Anyone have access to the paper? It's a cool find, but I'm scratching my head over several aspects of the reconstruction. Like, why did they give it a manatee tail, among other things. I'd like to read the authors' reasoning.

[Remko]

Anyone have access to the paper? It's a cool find, but I'm scratching my head over several aspects of the reconstruction. Like, why did they give it a manatee tail, among other things. I'd like to read the authors' reasoning.

Here's the link.
But alas, paywall... Only the intro is available.

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-023-06381-1

[Prehistory Resurrection]

The link to the BBC News article;
https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-66384632
I find it hard to believe the estimate weight of the animal when alive but either way, this is crazy; between 85 to 320 tons! This is a Guiness World Record right here! Larger than the largest dinosaur known to date and rivaling its modern day descendant in weight!  Mind boggling!

[Stegotyranno420]

Anyone have access to the paper? It's a cool find, but I'm scratching my head over several aspects of the reconstruction. Like, why did they give it a manatee tail, among other things. I'd like to read the authors' reasoning.

As far as I know, the artist of the main picture on Wikipedia used a mantee type tail based on the paper depictions. However, I heard he is contemplating on making a more whale featured reconstruction

[BlueKrono]

Why did they give it that tiny head? Like, in what universe...?

[Fembrogon]

Gabriel Ugueto took a crack at the animal with more modest dimensions:

Quick sketch of the huge, thick Perucetus described today with slightly different proportions than those presented in the description paper

https://twitter.com/SerpenIllus/status/1686812647969144844/photo/1

[Remko]

Why did they give it that tiny head? Like, in what universe...?

Because known Basilosaurids, especially Basilosaurus itself, have freakishly tiny heads compared to their bodysize. 

[VD231991]

Given the limited amount of material for Perucetus, additionl excavation at the Perucetus type locality may yield cranial and other remains suggesting that even if Perucetus is heavier than the blue whale, it would not have as much blubber as a manatee and its maximum weight could be reduced to 230 metric tons because Diplodocus (=Seismosaurus) hallorum was once estimated to be 170 feet long before studies published in the early 2000s reduced its size to 105 to 110 feet.

[andrewsaurus rex]

interesting animal but I too am skeptical of the size estimates.   Remember Liopleurodon.

[Remko]

interesting animal but I too am skeptical of the size estimates.   Remember Liopleurodon.

I don't think Liopleurodon was ever estimated wrong.
As far as I kmow, we were always pretty sure about it's size (about killer whale-ish).
Sure, we've got the WWD 25 meter monster, but I doubt anyone took that seriously or for a fact.