Livyatan is an extinct genus of sperm whale containing one species: L. melvillei. The genus name was inspired by the biblical sea monster Leviathan, and the species name by Herman Melville. It is mainly known from the Pisco Formation of Peru during the Tortonian stage of the Miocene epoch, about 9. 9–8. 9 million years ago.
About Livyatan in brief
Livyatan is an extinct genus of sperm whale containing one species: L. melvillei. The genus name was inspired by the biblical sea monster Leviathan, and the species name by Herman Melville, the author of the famous book Moby-Dick about a white bull sperm whale. It is mainly known from the Pisco Formation of Peru during the Tortonian stage of the Miocene epoch, about 9. 9–8. 9 million years ago. It was a member of a group of hyper-predatory macroraptorial sperm whales and was likely an apex predator, preying on whales, seals, and so forth. The teeth of Livyatan measured 36. 2 cm, and are the largest biting teeth of any known animal, excluding tusks. The whale may have interacted with the large extinct shark megalodon, competing with it for a similar food source. Its extinction was likely caused by a cooling event at the end of theMiocene which resulted in a drop in food populations. In 2016, a large sperm whale tooth measuring 30 cm was discovered in Beaumaris Bay, Australia. Though it has not been given a species designation, the tooth was donated to the Museums Victoria at Melbourne, indicating it was a close relative of LMelvillei, or a sperm whale or the “giant sperm whale” The tooth was nicknamed the \”Beaumaris sperm whale\” or the “giant whale’s tooth” by a local resident of the local strata named Murray Orr, and was nicknamed “Beaumarias sperm whale” or “The Great Sperm Whale’’.
It has not yet been identified as a species of LivYatan, but it is believed to be close to those of a species called L. Melvillei or L. Orr. It may have lived into the Pliocene, around 5 mya, and is thought to have been present throughout the Southern Hemisphere. It had functional, enamel-coated teeth on the upper and lower jaws, as well as several adaptations for hunting large prey. Its total length has been estimated to be about 13. 5–17. 5 m, similar to the modern sperm whale, making it one of the largest predators to have ever existed. In November 2008, a partially preserved skull and teeth and the lower jaw were discovered in the coastal desert of Peru in the sediments of thePisco Formation, 35 km southwest of the city of Ica. The fossils were prepared in Lima, and are now part of the collection of the Museum of Natural History, Lima of National University of San Marcos. The discoverers originally assigned—in July 2010—the English name of the biblical monster, Leviathan, to the whale as Leviathan. However, the scientific name Leviathan was also the junior synonym for the mastodon, so, in August 2010, the authors rectified this situation by coining a new genus name for the whale.
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This page is based on the article Livyatan published in Wikipedia (as of Nov. 07, 2020) and was automatically summarized using artificial intelligence.
