New Leviathan Whale Was Prehistoric "Jaws"? (Pictures)

Leviathan Mellvillei Fossil Site

Photograph by G. Bianucci, Universitá di Pisa

Rocks containing Leviathan mellvilleisperm whale fossils jut from a Peruvian desert near the city of Ica (map) as scientists investigate in an undated picture.

As fearsome as Leviathan was, the whale may have met its match in Carcharodon megalodon, or the "megatooth shark," which lived at the same time and even the same region.

Megalodon was the largest shark that ever lived and possibly competed with Leviathan for other whales. "Maybe they were fighting," study leader Lambert said.

If the two mega-monsters did clash, it's unclear who would have won. "Clearly they both could have attacked each other's juveniles," but a match between two adults may have been less clear-cut, he added.

A 2008 study found that the megalodon shark had the most powerful bite of any known creature that ever lived—strong enough to crush a small car. A bite test has not yet been performed for Leviathan, Lambert said.

(See more whale pictures.)

Published June 30, 2010

Leviathan Whale Fossil Site

Photograph by G. Bianucci, Universitá di Pisa

Leviathan mellvillei's fossil skull and jawbone were discovered in these Peruvian-desert rocks.

Klaas Post of the Natural History Museum of Rotterdam in the Netherlands discovered the ancient whale's fossils on the last day of a brief fossil-hunting expedition in 2008.

"We knew it was a large animal," lead study author Lambert recalled. "When we saw its huge teeth, we knew it couldn't be a baleen whale. It turned out to be a giant sperm whale."

Baleen whales, including the humpback whales and blue whales, are toothless and instead use hairlike structures called baleen to filter tiny prey such as krill from seawater.

(See "Early Whale Was Dwarf Mud-Sucker, Fossils Hint.")

Published June 30, 2010

Leviathan's Long-Lost Lagoon

Photograph by G. Bianucci, Universitá di Pisa

A Peruvian member of the study team stands among sand dunes in the desert where Leviathan mellvillei's fossils were found.

Study leader Lambert and his team think this Peruvian desert was once the bottom of a shallow, lagoon-like body of water home to many species of whales, dolphins, porpoises, seals, and sharks. "There was plenty of food for this animal," Lambert said of Leviathan.

Scientists think the giant sperm whale ambushed its prey like modern killer whales. But unlike killer whales, which must work together to hunt bigger prey, a solo Leviathan could have easily taken down another whale.

"With such a strong bite, we think it was possible for him to catch large prey alone," Lambert said.

(Related video: Whale Fossil Found in Kitchen Counter.)

Published June 30, 2010

Man Would Fit in Whale's Skull

Photograph by G. Bianucci, Universitá di Pisa

Leviathan mellvillei's skull and jawbone, diagrammed above, boasted large teeth in both the top and bottom jaws—and enough room to accommodate a modern man.

By contrast, today's sperm whales have smaller teeth, which are mostly in their lower jaws—an adaption for hunting squid by suction.

Leviathan shows that "raptorial feeding had gotten to a really extreme size," said Jonathan Geisler, a whale evolution expert at the New York Institute of Technology, who was not involved in the discovery.

The idea that Leviathan fed on other whales is a "good inference," Geisler said. "But to really pin it down, we're going to need to find some whale bones with [Leviathan's] bite marks."

Some of those marked fossils, he added, might already be sitting in museum collections.

(Also see "Early Whales Gave Birth on Land, Fossils Reveal.")

Published June 30, 2010