Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
Basilosaurus (meaning "king lizard") is a genus of large, predatory, prehistoric archaeocete whale from the late Eocene, approximately 41.3 to 33.9 million years ago (mya). First described in 1834, it was the first archaeocete and prehistoric whale known to science. [ 2 ]
[27] [58] Contrary to modern sperm whales, most ancient sperm whales were built to hunt whales. Livyatan had a short and wide rostrum measuring 10 feet (3.0 m) across, which gave the whale the ability to inflict major damage on large struggling prey, such as other early whales.
Perucetus is an extinct genus of an early whale from Peru that lived during the Bartonian age of the middle Eocene. Perucetus is the largest Eocene whale, with length estimates varying from 15–16 meters (49–52 ft) to 17–20 meters (56–66 ft).
In the 1840s, large numbers of bowhead whale were discovered around the Bering Strait. In 1848, American whaler Thomas Welcome Roys returned with a significant catch which drew the industry's attention. More than 500 whales were caught the following year and more than 2,000 in 1850.
Some balaenopterids perhaps rivaled the blue whale in terms of size, [114] though other studies disagree that any baleen whale grew that large in the Miocene. [ 115 ] The true largest macroraptorial sperm whale is none other than the Livyatan , with an estimated length of 44–57 ft (13.5–17.5 m) and an estimated weight of 62.8 short tons (57 ...
The whale's remains suggest it's a smaller relative of Basilosaurus cetoides, which lived along Alabama's coast 34-40 million years ago.
It was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site [2] in July 2005 [3] for its hundreds of fossils of some of the earliest forms of whale, the archaeoceti (a now extinct sub-order of whales). The site reveals evidence for the explanation of one of the greatest mysteries of the evolution of whales : the emergence of the whale as an ocean-going ...
The list of extinct cetaceans features the extinct genera and species of the order Cetacea. The cetaceans (whales, dolphins and porpoises) are descendants of land-living mammals, the even-toed ungulates. The earliest cetaceans were still hoofed mammals.