Ancient whale from Peru may be most massive animal ever on Earth

 

秘魯古鯨魚可能是地球有史以來最巨大的動物

【摘要2023.8.6.自由】◎魏國金

Move over, blue whale. There is a new contender for the most massive animal in Earth’s history.

讓一讓，藍鯨。地球史上最大動物出現新競爭者。

Scientists described fossils of an early whale unearthed in Peru called Perucetus colossus that lived about 38-40 million years ago during the Eocene epoch - a creature built somewhat like a manatee that may have topped the mass of the blue whale, long considered the heftiest animal on record.

科學家描述秘魯出土、生活約於3800萬至4000萬年前始新世時期的早期鯨魚「巨像秘魯鯨」的化石——這個體型有點像海牛的生物，重量或許超越被認為有紀錄以來最重的動物藍鯨。

The researchers estimated that Perucetus was about 20 meters long and weighed up to 340 metric tons, a mass that would exceed any other known animal including today’s blue whale and the largest dinosaurs.

研究人員推估秘魯巨鯨長約20公尺、重達340公噸，重量將超越任何其他已知動物，包括今天的藍鯨以及最大的恐龍。

"The main feature of this animal is certainly the extreme weight, which suggests that evolution can generate organisms that have characteristics that go beyond our imagination," said paleontologist Giovanni Bianucci of the University of Pisa in Italy.

「此動物的主要特徵肯定是極端的重量，這顯示演化可能生成特徵超越我們想像的生物體」，義大利比薩大學古生物學家喬瓦尼．比雅努奇說。

新聞辭典

move over：挪動、讓位。例句： Move over a little bit and let me sit down.（挪動一下，好讓我可以坐下）。

exceed：超越、勝過。例句：A person was fined for exceeding the speed limit.（一人因超速而被罰款。）