The legend of the leviathan has
come down to us through actual mention in the Bible and has remained intact
from our Bronze Age informants.
Just as surely, it is plausible
that this creature survived through the end of the Ice Age 12,000 years ago and
then slowly died out for reasons presently unclear. It certainly was not from a lack of food or
preferred habitats. The population may
well simply have crashed below sustainability during the Pleistocene
Nonconformity.
This fossil confirms the reality
of this fearsome creature that was a whale hunter and certainly a serious threat
to a fishing boat that looked much like a whale from below. We may even take the Jonah half seriously
now. A whale hunting a ship is creditable. Swallowing Jonah and barfing him back
immediately is not impossible and compares to occasional shark attacks. Jonah was still a very lucky chap.
Leviathan sea monster fossil found in ancient Peruvian seabed
by Terrence Aym
The fossilized skull of a gigantic sea monster that attacked and ate
whales was unearthed in an ancient seabed along the arid wilderness of the
Peruvian coast.
The remains of the incredible creature are so huge, researchers have
dubbed it "the Leviathan."
The Leviathan, a terrifying behemoth of the deep, is described in the
Bible's Old Testament. The Hebrews called it one of the seven princes of Hell
and its gatekeeper.
Those that observed it in the waters far offshore claimed the horrible
thing was the most terrifying creature in existence.
Long thought to be a myth, the Leviathan has been found. The fossil is
well-preserved and is a testament in living stone to the terrors of the seas
that early sailors faced.
The 12 million-year-old creature, more than 55 feet long, has huge
teeth and is believed to have once hunted and fed on other large aquatic
animals like seals, dolphins and other whales.
"It was a kind of a sea monster," Dr. Christian de Muizon,
director of the Natural History Museum
in Paris
Writing about the discovery in the journal Nature, the research teamrelate
how they discovered the Leviathan skull in the Pisco-Ica desert of Peru
Olivier Lambert, a student of de Muizon, described the discovery:
"It was the last day of our field trip when one of our colleagues came and
told us that he thought he'd found something very interesting. So we joined him
and he showed it to us."
Although the specimen interested the student, he at first thought it
was the remains of a sperm whale and wasn't aware of the magnitude of the
discovery.
"We immediately saw that it was a very large whale and when we
looked closer we saw it was a giant sperm whale with huge teeth."
What he thought was a sperm whale actually was a creature much larger,
much more vicious, and much older. The Leviathan also has teeth on the upper
and lower jaw whereas the sperm whale only has a set of lower teeth.
Researchers through the years have speculated that a creature like
Leviathan might exist based on teeth that have been found. Now with the
discovery of the massive skull, no doubt remains that such a prehistoric sea
creature did live to terrorize the oceans.
The myth has become reality.
No one knows why the creature died out. More research may uncover the
cause.
The entire research team are whale experts and fans of the novel
"Moby Dick." In honor of the author, Herman Melville, they officially
named one of the greatest sea monster whales after him.
From now on, in scientific literature the fearsome beast will be known
as the "Leviathan melvillei."
Fossil of mega-toothed killer whale found in Peru
Thu Jul 1, 2010 3:56pm GMT
By Eduardo Garcia
Leviathan Melvillei, which was named after the sea monster in the Bible
and the author of "Moby Dick" Herman Melville, is an ancestor of the
modern day sperm whale, said Rodolfo Salas, a palaeontologist at Peru's Natural
History Museum who took part in the study.
"This is an enormous tooth, more or less 14 inches (36 cm)
long," Salas told Reuters. "The features of the teeth lead us to
believe that the Leviathan was a big predator. It has the largest teeth on
record."
The fossil of Leviathan was found two years ago and a team of scientists
only unveiled the results of their find this week. Leviathan lived roughly 12
million years ago and its teeth were about twice as long as those of the great
dinosaur Tyrannosaurus Rex.
"The Leviathan could have fed on other whales, which were very
abundant and diverse in that period," said Salas.
As well as ten well-preserved teeth, the team of European and Peruvian
palaeontologists also found the whale's skull and its lower jaw. The findings
were published in the journal Nature and the fossil will soon go on exhibit in Lima , Peru
The discovery was made in 2008 in the Ocucaje desert in southern Peru
"In terms of (ancient) vertebrate sea life, Peru
He said the Leviathan may have been bigger than one of its
contemporaries, the Carcharocles Megalodon, widely regarded as the largest
shark that ever lived, at some 65.5 feet (20 metres) in length.
"The Leviathan could have been the biggest predator that has ever
lived in the sea," said Salas.
(Writing by Eduardo Garcia; Editing by Terry Wade and Vicki Allen)
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