Art Print - Livyatan Mellvillei

LIVYATAN MELVILLEI

Back in the good ol' days, say around 10 - 12 million years ago, there were some pretty nasty things swimming in the seas. Even whales back then were nothing to scoff at, and of such marine mammals, the "Leviathan" was king. Pretty much a sperm whale on steroids, this beast ranged from 44-57 feet in length, still about the length of his modern cousins, but was certainly packing a lot more weaponry. The teeth of the Livyatan are the biggest of any animal ever, coming in at 1.18 feet in length. And where a modern sperm whale's much smaller teeth were only found in the lower jaw, the Livyatan had jaws top and bottom lined with these massive pointed daggers. This animal not only ate huge cephalopods and fish, but researchers are pretty positive that this whale ate whales.

Livyatan was only recently discovered in 2008. Makes you wonder what else was swimming out there all those eons ago that we have yet to find buried in the shale somewhere? New discoveries like this really captivate us dorks for prehistoric marine life.

Dar, she blows!

-Aaron John Gregory, Cotton Crustacean