🪐 View in 3D Galaxy 📏 View on 3D Scale Stage

🧬 Biological Classification (Kingdom to Species)Livyatan melvillei

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Chordata

Class

Mammalia

Order

Cetacea

Family

Genus

Livyatan

Species

Livyatan melvillei

Mammalia🌊 Marine predator / filter feeder

Livyatan

Livyatan melvillei (Livyatan · Livyatan)

🛡️ Conservation Status (IUCN Red List)FOSSIL (Extinct Fossil)

Known only from fossils. The IUCN Red List assesses only species extant since 1500 CE, so fossil taxa are not assigned a category.

Geological Era

Miocene (~11.63 MYA)

Diet

Marine predator / filter feeder

Length · Height

14~18m · No data

Mass · Top Speed

No data · No data

Habitat & Fossil Locality

Late Miocene sea; fossils discovered in coastal strata of Peru

💡 Everyday Comparisons for Size, Mass & Speed

💡 A body length of 18 m is about the length of one and a half large buses (about 12 m long) (Comparison).
💡 The same paper places it alongside the modern killer whale (6–8 m) as a marine apex predator, and 18 m is more than twice the maximum length of a killer whale (Comparison).

Reference standards: coach bus ~12 m, mid-size car ~4.9 m, compact car ~1 t, basketball hoop 3.05 m, credit card 8.56 cm.

#리비아탄#Livyatan melvillei

📖 1. Overview

Livyatan melvillei (genus Livyatan) was a fossil member of the sperm whale group that lived during the Late Miocene and first became known from fossils found in Miocene strata of Peru. Unlike modern sperm whales, it is thought to have been a predator that tore apart large prey.

🦴 2. Anatomy & Morphology

Its body length is estimated at about 14–18 m. Like the lower jaw, its upper jaw also held large teeth, and a long basin hollowed into the top of the skull resembles that of modern sperm whales.

🔍 3. Fossil Record & Paleoecology

Researchers count Livyatan as an apex predator of Miocene seas. Its skull width is said to have been broader than that of any baleen whale known from the Miocene.