The giant fossil from the Pisa study was the third largest discovery of 2023

The American National Geographic Channel chose the fossil of a large cetacean found in Peru by paleontologists from the University of Pisa in Italy, as the third most amazing scientific discovery of 2023.

The giant statue of Perocetus appears among the 11 largest finds.

This species, which may have been the ancestor of whales and dolphins, was perhaps the heaviest to have ever lived on Earth.

The animal lived 40 million years ago, was 20 meters long, could weigh up to 340 tons, and had very massive and heavy bones.

The research, which was published in the scientific journal Nature, included the participation of other scientists from Italy and other European countries, in addition to Peru.

The first discoveries of fossilized bones of the primitive animal occurred 13 years ago, and others have been recovered over the years from excavations, supported by Mario Urbina, the “living legend” of Peruvian paleontology.

The substance was discovered in the Ica Desert, which in the time of Perocetus was a sea.

The fossils are in the custody of the Natural History Museum of Lima and consist of 13 vertebrae, four ribs and part of the pelvis, a bone whose composition indicates that the animal had small hind legs.

“Careful estimates, based on bone measurements and comparison with a database of existing animals and other fossils, indicate that the skeletal mass of Perocetus was between five and eight tons, twice the mass of the largest animal in the world today, the blue whale.” “, explained Giovanni Bianucci, professor at the University of Pisa.

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