The jaws of the Leviathan: by Nature Video

The fossilized skull and jaw of a giant, 12--13 million-year-old sperm whale have been discovered off the coast of Peru. The creature, whose discovery is reported in this week's Nature, belongs to a previously unknown genus of sperm whale and has been named in honour of Herman Melville, the author of Moby Dick.

The fossil was found in ocean layers where the giant shark has also been recorded and the authors suggest that these two giant, raptorial predators could have lived in the same area, feeding on large, marine vertebrates, such as baleen whales.

[invisiblejaguar]

My god, what a monster this thing was.

[jamesdunn]

At one time all whales were toothed whales as they evolved from a toothed mammal. Very interesting video and well done. Moreover, it appears the teeth although not mentioned here, were self sharpening.

[Ornitholestes]

Leviathan is used both on the video above and in even in the description paper, it can be used to refer to it, as a common name.

[Ornitholestes]

We cannot really say which one is bigger. The biggest in a few thousands of megalodons almost certainly outsize Livyatan. Similarly, Livyatan almost certainly outsizes the smallest megs. Much more is difficult to say because it depends on the varying figures existing for both, but this is no orca/gws-situation were the whale simply has a significant size advantage that it employs effectively to dispatch its prey.

[waynebenjaminshannon]

We indigenous people of Australia believed in a creature that has a tail like a cedar, it is painted in caves as rock arts, these stories were told by our ancestors....

[NeuronElixer]

if you look at both ancient hebrew, ancient greek and the present day bible.. it explains why the leviathan is a whale
in the ancient jewish mythology it says that the leviathan is a 300 mile long whale. In modern day hebrew.. Leviathan means "whale"
and also there are 3 types of monsters:
-The Leviathan (Sea Creature)
-The Behemoth (Land Creature)
-The Ziz (Dragon)

[bradleyhollon]

if we're judging the outcome of the fight based on bite force and sheer teeth size then the meg and leyv were both hunted to extinction by Tony Robbins who after he consumed them all evolved to live on land and started selling his self help books

[VladSicoe]

Fascinating! So, I think that Megalodon finally has a rival :))

[SupesMe]

I saw a recent Video on a Sperm Whale that got sick & washed ashore in the UK. When they were doing the Beach Autopsy they found a Tooth in one of the Upper holes of the jaw where the modern Sperm Whales Teeth rest. It must have been a throwback to this Giant

[Procrastinater]

@pyroman1000k there is not many vertebrae... they are very very rare as far as i know, and what site? do i find it through your profile? does it give an size estimate based of the vertebrae there like you say?

[georgejohnson]

megaledon vs mother in law...
who would win?

[MojaKann]

1:04, listen to how badly that sentence has been chopped up lol

[Panthera]

You're killing me with that picture of a humpback that you put up to show a blue whale.

Still, great video.

[animalwarz]

@pyroman1000k I don't understand why you guys are even arguing about this. We barely know anything about this creature other than it has 14 inch teeth. Most of the tooth is root just like predator x's tooth. In some article, they mentioned it's teeth were heavily rooted. I'm assuming 6 or 7 inches of the teeth is actually visible when on the leviathan.

[animalwarz]

@fmoa Great whites generally avoid attack areas like the rib cage but Megalodon's target that. They also target flippers and the thiner parts towards the back so they can stop the prey from moving.

[granddad]

Gigantism and dwarfism in marine mammalian species is fascinating. This monster is more than I can imagine, but how this happens makes me wonder if we are missing something important when these fossils get classified? Evolution aside; how did it get so big? The diet of such lifeforms must have been ravenous?

[rxpharmacy]

The word Leviathan can be used for anything, it is entirely up to the person using it.
By the way I'm Christian and your comment needs to be deleted.
Thanks.

[Darklarik]

Finally an animal that can give Megalodon competition

[levifroesefroese]

I'm Christian and I've read Job where it discribes the leviathan and it has scales, which mammals do not (whales are mammals) the leviathan breaths fire, which is not very useful for a whale, in the sea.

[mtothe]

its gonna take long to finish tie bizz coz it just happend few months ago im so excited to hear alot from those