Biggest animal ever? Scientists say they've discovered a massive and ancient whale.
Move over, blue whale. You've been demoted.
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Scientists have discovered what they say could be the heaviest animal that ever lived on Earth: a gigantic ancient whale that may have been two to three times as heavy as the modern blue whale.
The newly discovered whale, which has been given the Latin name Perucetus colossus (“the colossal whale from Peru”), lived about 39 million years ago.
Though its roughly 66-foot length doesn't break records, its weight does. The study estimates it weighed 375 tons − or about as heavy as 35 school buses.
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Blue whales are still historically large animals: Some can grow to more than 100 feet.
Perucetus colossus was “possibly the heaviest animal ever,” said study co-author Alberto Collareta, a paleontologist at Italy’s University of Pisa. But “it was most likely not the longest animal ever.”
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