Just days after the world was introduced to the heaviest known ancient whale, a much tinier member of the same family has been found on the other side of the planet.
The newly discovered species is one of the earliest — and smallest — basilosaurids, a family of ancient aquatic creatures related to modern whales, researchers report August 10 in Communications Biology. It measured just 2.5 meters long, the team estimates, and weighed a mere 188 kilograms, about as much as a blue whale’s heart.
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