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:<br />Whale Vertebrae: By Nancy Hann, CC BY 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=60544388<br />Serra da Capivara: By Vitor 1234, CC BY-SA 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=4176607<br />CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0:<br />Perucetus colossus: By Stegotyranno, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=135491272<br />Skeleton of Whale: By Zacharia Nyambu, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=92438511<br />Perucetus & Ocucajea: By SpinoDragon145, https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Perucetus_%26_Ocucajea_edited.jpg<br />Mesturus verrucosus: By ©️ Raimond Spekking / CC BY-SA 4.0 (via Wikimedia Commons), https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=2456091<br />Camel graffiti: By John Romano D'Orazio, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=70363054<br />CC BY 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0:<br />Blue whale: By dannzjs/sketchfab, https://skfb.ly/oLtBL<br />Perucetus colossus: By Major/sketchfab, https://skfb.ly/oJTsD<br />Killer Whale: By Trouvaille/sketchfab, https://skfb.ly/6SI7C<br />ダイナンアナゴ Sea Eel, Conger erebennus: By ffish.asia / floraZia.com/sketchfab, https://skfb.ly/o8CYw<br />Mollweide Paleographic Map: By Scotese, Christopher R.; Vérard, Christian; Burgener, Landon; Elling, Reece P.; Kocsis, Ádám T. - https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.10659112, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=155112447<br />Person: By minikin/sketchfab, https://skfb.ly/Ku97<br />ナマズ Amur Catfish, Silurus asotus: By ffish.asia / floraZia.com/sketchfab, https://skfb.ly/oBpq9<br />Groenlandaspis: By Aleksey Grishchenko/sketchfab, https://skfb.ly/oxv6K<br />Sea krait / Sea snake: By saltoc in training/sketchfab, https://skfb.ly/o8yQG<br />Fish Jaw: By RISD Nature Lab/sketchfab, https://skfb.ly/o67LL<br />Serrasalmimus: By Sophie Fernandez (MNHN) - Romain Vullo, Lionel Cavin, Bouziane Khallouf, Mbarek Amaghzaz, Nathalie Bardet, Nour-Eddine Jalil, Essaid Jourani, Fatima Khaldoune und Emmanuel Gheerbran - https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-06792-x, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=91897531<br />Serrasalmimus 2: By Lilian Cazes - Romain Vullo, Lionel Cavin, Bouziane Khallouf, Mbarek Amaghzaz, Nathalie Bardet, Nour-Eddine Jalil, Essaid Jourani, Fatima Khaldoune and Emmanuel Gheerbran - https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-06792-x, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=91834440<br />Animation is created by Bright Side.<br /><br />#brightside <br />----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br />Music from TheSoul Sound: https://thesoul-sound.com/ <br /><br />Listen to Bright Side on: <br />Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/0hUkPxD34jRLrMrJux4VxV<br />Apple Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/idhttps-podcasts-apple-com-podcast-bright-side/id1554898078<br />----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br />Our Social Media:<br />Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/brightside/<br />Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/brightside.official/<br />Tik Tok - https://www.tiktok.com/@brightside.official?lang=en<br />Snapchat - https://www.snapchat.com/p/c6a1e38a-bff1-4a40-9731-2c8234ccb19f/1866144599336960<br /><br />Stock materials (photos, footages and other):<br /> https://www.depositphotos.com <br />https://www.shutterstock.com <br />https://www.eastnews.ru <br />----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br />For more videos and articles visit: http://www.brightside.me
