Animal that lost its status as the 'largest' has been reduced in size by half again

<img src=”https://naked-science.ru/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Oblozhka-1-1-scaled.jpeg” alt=”Animal that lost its status as the “largest” has been halved again”/>A few years ago, the blue whale, the heaviest of the existing, and possibly of the ever existing animals, had a competitor. Paleontologists calculated the maximum mass of Perucetus, an ancient whale whose incomplete skeleton was previously found in Peru, at 340 tons. A year later, another scientific group rejected these figures, naming their own estimate at 60-70 tons. This time, scientists analyzed in detail the probable mass of all creatures similar to Perucetus and again cut its size, making it a completely ordinary marine mammal.