How big was the Melville's whale? When did it go extinct?

There is a whale that could rival the megalodon, called the Melville's whale (Livyatan melvillei). It was once one of the most powerful marine creatures on Earth, but now its true form can no longer be seen, as it has gone extinct. Below, let's take a look at How big was the Melville's whale? When did it go extinct?

1. How big was the Melville's whale?

At present, the only specimen of the Melville's whale is a single skull. Scientists estimate that the Melville's whale was 17 to 18 m long, and the largest tooth found so far is 35 cm, but in 2013 a 40 cm fossilized whale tooth was found, so this Melville's whale may have been up to 20 m long. However, because there are currently few fossil specimens, scientists can only conclude that it was a top predator on par with the megalodon, with strength that was evenly matched. If the sperm whale is used as a reference, the body length of the Melville's whale was 13.5 m; if the zygophyseter is used as a reference, the body length comes out to 16.2 to 17.5 m, with a maximum body size of up to 20 m.

2. When did the Melville's whale go extinct?

The Melville's whale is an extinct toothed whale from the Miocene period discovered in South America, living 13 million years ago.

In terms of classification, the Melville's whale belongs to the sperm whale superfamily within the cetaceans, and is relatively closely related to the sperm whale that still lives in the ocean today. Not only are they closely related, they also look very similar, but they still have differences.

The Melville's whale had a square and large head, which was filled with fat known as “whale oil”. Perhaps, like the sperm whale, they could use sound waves to detect prey and also make sounds to communicate. Beneath the head of the Melville's whale was a broad and powerful mouth, and in the mouth were two rows of thick, large teeth, with the largest teeth reaching 36 cm in length! The sturdy jaws gave it a powerful bite force, and its large mouth could easily bite through the skin and flesh of prey.

Behind the huge head of the Melville's whale was a robust body, with a pair of pectoral fins on the sides of the body and a small dorsal fin on its back. Like today's cetaceans, the tail fin of the Melville's whale also grew horizontally and was left-right symmetrical along the midline, and the powerful tail fin could ensure that it swam quickly in the ocean.

What if the Melville's whale had not gone extinct? First of all, the Melville's whale mainly preyed on whales, and was fully capable of preying on baleen whales of a similar size to itself. If it had not gone extinct, then on modern beaches we might have more opportunities to see gray whales more than ten meters long, and the battered corpses of baleen whales washed up on the coast, or else at the sea surface, with the culprit pointing directly to the Melville's whale. Without the Melville's whale and the megalodon, the lives of adult baleen whales would basically be carefree (not considering human whaling).

As an ocean overlord, the Melville's whale must have had a very rich diet. When modern ocean top predators such as sharks encountered the Melville's whale, they would have to change from the role of predator to prey. Great white sharks, tiger sharks and the like could only make escape their top priority.

The modern ocean overlord, the killer whale, if its group was large enough, could resist or drive away the Melville's whale, but killer whales are always very cautious when facing potential danger. If an aggressive Melville's whale charged at a pod of killer whales, even they would have to adopt an escape strategy, and only when they could effectively organize a defense line could they drive it away, but an all-out fight to the point of tearing off all pretense would almost never occur.

All of the above is the “impact” of the Melville's whale on modern marine life, so what about on humans? Ordinary small and medium-sized ships would likely look like prey to the Melville's whale, so if these ships were attacked, the crew would very likely lose their lives as a result. Modern large whales basically eat plankton and small fish and shrimp, and have no motive to attack ships. The sperm whale mainly preys on mollusks and also has no motive to attack ships. If the Melville's whale had not gone extinct, we might no longer be suited to using smaller ships for activities at sea.