In the famous Peruvian Nazca Desert, a group of scientists at the Rotterdam Museum of Natural History discovered the remains of a prehistoric sperm whale (Leviathan melvillei), whose length ranged from 13.5 to 17.5 meters.
Paleontologists have long assumed that in the past, giant predatory whales, like the one described in the novel by Herman Melville, "Moby Dick", lived in the oceans of the planet. Recently, a skull belonging to such an ancient monster was found in Peru by an expedition of Dutch archaeologists, led by Klaas Post of the Rotterdam Museum of Natural History. An article by experts about this find was published in Nature News.
Paleontologists were particularly impressed by the sperm whale's three-meter jaw. No less interesting is the fact that the diameter of the giant's upper teeth was about 12 centimeters with a length of 36 centimeters (while modern sperm whales lack the upper dentition). All the facts indicate that this sperm whale, belonging to the suborder of toothed whales, was a dangerous predator. He received the scientific name Leviathan melvillei.
Unlike today's whales, which feed mainly on invertebrates, it could hunt marine animals such as dolphins, seals, and even other whales. The sperm whale was able to feed on creatures up to 8 meters long! He grabbed the victim with powerful jaws and quickly tore it apart with giant teeth.
"Leviathan melvillei appears to have had the largest teeth on our planet in its entire history," said Olivier Lambert of the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences.
According to information collected by paleontologists, Leviathan melvillei existed in the period when the giant sharks Carcharocles megalodon (15 meters long) lived in some waters next to it, the remains of which were also found in Peru. Despite the fact that the two giants were comparable in size, they were unlikely to attack each other.
Researchers do not know what led to the extinction of Leviathan melvillei, but they assume that the reason for this is changes in the environment (cooling), as well as in the number and size of the available prey. These whales had to change their dietary habits over time. By the way, it is possible that this change led to the appearance of today's much more toothless (in comparison with the ancient monster) sperm whales.
Tatyana Ivanova, a researcher at the Laboratory of Hydrobiology of the BiNII (St. Petersburg State University), told Pravda. Ru about the structural features of marine predators that lived on Earth 12-13 million years ago:
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“A study of the discovered skull may provide an answer to the question of why all sperm whales have disproportionately large heads with a bulky cushion of spermacet (a wax-like substance obtained by cooling liquid animal fat - spermacetic oil, enclosed in a fibrous sac).
Previously, it was suggested that the large head allowed these marine mammals to dive to significant depths in search of food. But the latest findings refute this theory, since the animals that were hunted by the giant predators lived in the upper layers of the ocean. Their number was colossally high at that time, so the leviathans did not have problems with food.
By the way, it was previously believed that ancient whales descended from mesonichids (a family of archaic omnivorous ungulates, which are large predators in the Early Paleogene faunas). This hypothesis was based on the study of found teeth and fossils. But the results of recent studies carried out by specialists in the field of molecular genetics support the theory of the origin of the first whales from artiodactyls, or rather, the hippopotamus family. It really is."