The Blue Whale Might Not Be The Biggest Animal That Ever Lived

[@theangrysuchomimus5163]

15:55 and so is true for the blue whale. It's unlikely that humans discovered the biggest blue whale to ever live. It's important to keep that in mind.

[@novedad4468]

We can measure the average length of blue whales from thousands of individuals, as well as the few exceptionsally large ones, the 0,1 percentile. Yet we only have remains from s handful of individuals of the few species we know,. The most likely chance is that those remains are from close to average individuals, while those top 0,1% that we have seen in blue whales haven't been found. Ofc, there could have been even larger blue whale individuals that we haven't seen, mostly in the past. But thebig sample size we have make it very difficult that any specimen would have been extraordinarily larger than the ones we have already seen.

[@jimmicrackhead12]

Blue whale is largest though

[@sleepeejack]

I dunno about that. Whalers killed roughly 98% of the entire blue whale population at one point. If we didn't discover the biggest blue whale to ever live, we probably discovered specimens that got pretty close.

[@naomiseraphina9718]

Don't you just LOVE the fact that we will never be finished in our exploration of the Earth's animal life, whether in the present day or in times long past? I think it's wonderful that there is still so much to learn, and that we are learning as much as we are. Well done, paleontologists! --N

[@draskk3471]

One thing I'm surprised no one has mentioned is that if the dental and jaw fossils are similar to other ichthyosaur skulls found in the past this animal could have potentially been the largest marine predator ever, regardless if it "dethrones" the blue whale.

[@patreekotime4578]

That all depends on whether or not you consider baleen whales to be predators. IMO filter-feeders are just a subset of predators who happen to consume large groups of smaller prey instead of larger individual prey species.

[@EmpressOfExile206]

Ummm sorry to burst your bubble but the blue whale *is also* a predator... However, if you correct your statement to "macro-predator" you won't look like a 🤡 who didn't pass high school biology lol

[@EmpressOfExile206]

​@@patreekotime4578Biology isn't "a matter of opinion" lmao baleen whales *are predators* whether the OP "considers them to be" or not! 😂 That's why the term "macro-predator" exists, to distinguish active hunters from filter feeders👍

[@loowick4074]

​@@patreekotime4578 macropredatory and macropredatory should be an important distinction.

[@Immafraid]

@@loowick4074 I'm assuming that was a typo, because they are the same thing.

[@mimimarcus]

Since filter-feeding is more efficient than active hunting, it makes sense that the largest animal of all time should be a filter-feeder, which is the blue whale in this case. It is very hard to see an active hunter to be the largest of all time without having its prey to be equal, if not larger than the hunter, due to the evolutionary arm race between predator and prey

[@ExtremeMadnessX]

Probably was more similar to sperm whales than blue whales. Giant cephalopods already existed at the time.

[@lucasb9285]

Is more efficient in our times, back it could be different

[@snipeefox]

It could very well be a case of indeterminate growth. They just grow until they can’t sustain themselves or become structurally unstable/incapable of feeding

[@andrewwesleyhudson5983]

In the miocene, macropredators (livyatan, megalodon) were bigger than filter feeders from what I've heard. Also, not all oceans are created equal in terms of distributed biomass. There are ocean dead zones today, and there are places with more abundant plankton life (subpolar gyres). From what I can find, information on plankton abundance during the Permian/Triassic is contradictory. There's a theory that complex ocean currents created by our current continental layout is good for productivity, and that panthalassa with its' giant subtropical gyres would be more of a desert than our modern oceans. The Permian also has the paleo-tethys sea which, if it's shallow and warm like the later tethys sea, would be extremely conducive to primary production. But, importantly, there's a theory that blue whales grew to their size because of the need to migrate huge distances between summer and winter feeding zones. Filter feeders in a world with no polar gyres, or filter feeders in the tethys sea, would have no need seasonal migration.

[@Dell-ol6hb]

@@lucasb9285 well yes, but being a macropredator has never been very efficient at any point, that’s why you only see them pop up in ecosystems that are productive enough to support their existence

[@vincentx2850]

My problem with these estimates is that both species they used for the scaling are very small headed and serpentine, potentially making the end product a lot more sensational than it actually was.

[@Dell-ol6hb]

Yea I’ve seen this same song and dance many times, the estimate is almost without doubt significantly larger than the actual animal was. Paleontologists love to overestimate the sizes of specimens because it brings more eyeballs and attention to their work

[@AntoniusTyas]

Dr. Darren Naish's book 'Ancient Sea Reptiles' really helped me a lot to understand this discussion of shastasaurid, as well as other ichthyosaurs. I really hope one day I can solve the mystery of a massive front premaxilla and dentary of an ichthyosaur found in Ceram Island of Indonesia, which was described (informally) in 1800s as _'Ichthyosaurus' ceramensis,_ yet no one has ever done any more research of it until today.

[@Krona-fb4dn]

The evolutionary explosion of ichthyosaurs is absolutely mind blowing. The more I learn about ichthyosaurs, the more they intrigue me. It took them only *one* million years after the permian triassic extinction to become fully pelagic marine animals.

[@PirateStory]

to evolve into the water, that fast, naturally. life on land must have been REALLY bad at that time 😂 (i know it was cuz of the obvious extinction. but still, sheesh 😮‍💨 must have been brutal )

[@Krona-fb4dn]

@@PirateStory It is just vastly easier to evolve from land into water, than vice versa. This is why -ungulates (cetaceans and hippos) -sirenians (manatees) -carnivorans (pinnipeds, some mustelids like otters) -archosaurs (crocodylomorpha, other weird archosaurs like phytosaurs, likely with spinosaurus and some others, and penguins and some puffins) -monotremes (platypus) -Squamates (sea snakes, mosasaurs, -turtles (multiple times lol) and their close cousins like sauropterygians (plesiosaurs) -likely more I am missing but examples of going from the water onto land are much harder to spot.

[@addisonmartin3200]

​@@PirateStory it was. Look it up if you like. It's horrifying.

[@MikhailTeplensky]

@@addisonmartin3200why?

[@Dr.Ian-Plect]

@@Krona-fb4dn "It took them only one million years after the permian triassic extinction to become fully pelagic marine animals." - can you validate that?

[@Compulsive_LARPer]

Ichthyosaurs are a remarkable example of "the niche makes the animal".

[@bubarowe]

A small point of clarification. I've known Justin Reynolds for more than 30 years, he's one of my best friends. He and Ruby found the fossil alone. And Justin was fully aware of what he had found. After the first section was found he and various groups of friends continued to search for sections of the fossil over a period of several years.. Dean Lomax did not participate at any stage in the search and only became involved at the very end when the fossil was being examined at the British museum and papers were being written. So when he is saying "we found" these fossils, what he actually means is other people found the fossils and he then joined the party at a later stage. The credit for the discovery, fully aware of what it was, goes to Justin and Ruby. I have a nice selection of photos of the fossil laid out on Justin's living room carpet . . .

[@jacktheleper4468]

So at a glance he knew from that specimen of jawbone knew exactly what he was dealing with immediately huh? He must be quite the talented professional

[@bubarowe]

@@jacktheleper4468 Professional? . . no. Talented? . . you have no idea. And he wasn't just randomly looking for any old fossils, he was actively looking for Ichthyosaur fossils. So while he did some research immediately after finding the first section to confirm his suspicions, he essentially knew what it was. And certainly not his first Ichthyosaur skull section. I was with Jus in Wales when he found a section of skull and teeth from a smaller species. (needless to say I found nothing,, standing joke in our group of friends. jus finds the missing link , we find an interesting rock . . )

[@nivedkarthik2100]

Average blue whale fan vs average ichthyosaur enjoyer debate

[@a.r.h9919]

Kind of forgetting the title as "blue whale *MIGHT* not be the greatest animal that ever lived"

[@UnwantedGhost1-anz25]

​@@a.r.h9919 In terms of benefiting the ecosystem while they're alive and dead?

[@timexyemerald6290]

Blue whale is about to meet its maker😅

[@a.r.h9919]

@@UnwantedGhost1-anz25 what the actual hell does that have to do with size ?

[@theangrysuchomimus5163]

Large extinct animals tend to be overestimated in size by paleontologists. So it feels more like the Icthyo fans forgetting that their new contender for the blue whale will almost certainly be downsized.

[@GTSE2005]

The possibility that some of these titans were still not even fully grown is absolutely insane

[@magnumxlpi]

There's a possibility of aliens plowing you while you sleep too. Has the same amount of evidence as this so keep your butthole tight

[@spencerd3696]

To quote the great Qui Gon Jinn: “There’s always a bigger fish”

[@Leftatalbuquerque]

You're gonna need a bigger boat.

[@conandrake444]

You said it you mad man, thank you I was looking for it ^^

[@Bill2bearockstar]

Not to downplay your comment. It's funny to me that they are both not a fish and not even in the same animal groups

[@ImpecuniousMax]

Just don’t trust the opinion of his friend Ben. That guy was constantly under the influence of Jinn.

[@wojciech9538]

Or a bigger mammal Or a bigger reptile

[@persianking44]

I think at this point it might be more appropriate to say there was no singular "biggest animal of all time", but rather, these giant ichthyosaurs, blue whales, and sauropods represent the maximum conceivable size limits achievable by any living organism on Earth.

[@Saifywaifyx15]

Based comment right here

[@eVillGaming-eng]

but which one was the biggest, that is the question

[@Teknokraatti]

'Any living organism' is a bad choice of words here if you want to see big animals. Even a relatively modest giant sequoia effortlessly outmasses even the largest of blue whales or sauropods. They, in turn, lose out to mycelium networks in which a single individual can reach over an area of more than 10 km2. They, in turn, lose to some aquatic plants that grown massive forests consisting of only one single individual. The biggest example is around 180km2 in area, though I can't remember a mass estimate. If it is anything less than thousands of tons I will be absolutely confused.

[@persianking44]

@@Teknokraatti That’s being a little pedantic don’t you think? Whenever people talk about “the biggest living thing”, they’re rarely talking about fungus or trees.

[@dolsopolar]

just add "known" after it and the problem is fixed.

[@qwertyuiopgarth]

I get the impression that the Ancient Oceans could be hazardous to navigate....maybe any time-displaced humans should stay off the oceans....

[@Oinker-Sploinker]

Unless the time displaced humans have a submarine

[@jackmorrison5272]

Man I wish they would make some new Nigel Marvin "documentaries" This time with a sub

[@kateglew580]

The man, the myth, the legend - Doctor Dean Lomax!!

[@PromorteD]

Great that Dean not only acknowledged the original finders of the fossils, but also remembered their names. It takes a lot of skill and experience to recognise fossils, these are not chance finds

[@ianthe.w]

I’ve always loved how much he champions other people’s work and findings, especially for the kids who come across amazing specimens. It must mean so much to them and genuinely inspire a huge interest in palaeontology! His story of how he got into it is inspiring.

[@Aethuviel]

Ichthyosaurs, overall, are really underrated and unfairly put in the shadow of the other marine reptiles. They were so much more than just reptilian dolphins or tuna.

[@yissibiiyte]

Statistically speaking, the chances of the largest animal to ever exist being alive right now, out of hundreds of millions of years of time, is ridiculously low.

[@YmusAnon]

Same with humans being the first to make civilization.

[@Dman9fp]

@@YmusAnon Depending on your definitions of civilizations-- ants may have been the first

[@yissibiiyte]

@@Dman9fp I wouldn't call an ant colony a "civilisation". Eusociality is arguably far more advanced.

[@cocoanerd17.-.]

​@@Dman9fp Ants are undeniably the first (as far as we know) to develop agriculture. Millions of years before hominids walked, ants were cultivating fungi

[@georget4141]

not really, when you realize that at any given time there’s only 1 or 2 (or no) lineages that are even in a position to get that big, and marine mammals are the most advanced and on average the largest of all marine animals. if it was at all common for animals to approach blue whale sizes we’d be finding them much more often.

[@NorðmaðrFráNoregi]

I love your videos! They’re very educational. :)

[@NorðmaðrFráNoregi]

I’m sorry for having little to say, I just wanted to comment early

[@TDMHeyzeus]

Looking beyond the whole question of whether whales or icthyosaurs were bigger - I think there's another question that's a lot more interesting. Baleen whales only developed the gigantism we see today quite recently due to a confluence of specific factors, and while there is the occassional extremely large animal at certain points (megalodon, perucetus etc), the only time we see gigantism on the same scale as we do today appears to be these early triassic icthyosaurs. But what enabled that? Its clearly very unusual to have so many large animals.

[@WaterShowsProd]

Extremely abundant food source and fierce competition. As frightening as some find the ocean today, the Triassic seas must have been a true horror!

[@TDMHeyzeus]

@@WaterShowsProd Move over Western Interior Seaway! (I mean, frankly, it was never a match for the Miocene anyway).

[@Dr.Ian-Plect]

@@TDMHeyzeus You are completely misusing gigantism. It refers to individuals within a species of a size well beyond the average. You are using it to refer to species of very large size, and that is incorrect.

[@Dr.Ian-Plect]

@@brendankelly2653 'put in place'?! That suggests a conscious agency doing it for that reason! What do you actually mean?

[@Dr.Ian-Plect]

@@brendankelly2653 I'm sorry I asked, it got worse.

[@PowerMadLabRat]

3:15 "how the turn tables" 😂

[@Peter-vf3dl]

the office

[@DS-xg9kf]

I know. Cringe. 😏

[@WaterShowsProd]

Growing up I never expected anything like this regarding ichthyosaurs. Can you imagine if they exhibited breeching behaviour? Also: I love that T-shirt!

[@TVAVStudios]

You doing a video on this is already a treat, but that Office reference just made my day!

[@Alberad08]

Thank you very much for creating & sharing this new Ichthyosaurus feature! BTW 11:11 "Ichthyotitan severnensis" really just means "fishgiant from the Severn".

[@Theonlybuddy]

0:06 basically a reptilian seal and it looks cute

[@andilee1512]

agreed

[@carry2200]

@@andilee1512

[@davidraper5798]

Considering how long Icthyosaurs were around, compared to cetaceans, the possibility that they evolved to be larger than the Blue Whale makes perfect sense.

[@francissemyon7971]

But growing to blue whale size is not something granted.

[@davidraper5798]

@@francissemyon7971 Of course not, it all depends on if they find something bigger but for now it's fun to speculate.

[@alvzcizzler]

blue whales only largest in terms of weight anyway, not length or height

[@sirensynapse5603]

Mayhaps they dined on blue whales even, what what?

[@EuthanizeAllDogs]

@@sirensynapse5603 no

[@Vladimir_Fedorov27]

I find it really intriguing, that an active macropredator is also the biggest creature in the ecosystem... If true, I think we don't have an example of such foodchain. Is it the unimaginable abundance of prey or a yet unknown even larger foodsource animal, I wonder.

[@ExtremeMadnessX]

It's probably lived similar to sperm whales. Giant cephalopods already existed at the time.

[@catherinehubbard1167]

What a wonderful video! Your knowledge, networking with leading researchers, and obvious passion to learn more about these animals are clear and a pleasure to see. How exciting if a complete specimen is eventually found, perhaps weathering out of cliffs.

[@aryatejc8067]

I swear these guys weren't just dolphins, but cetaceans as a whole before they were a thing...

[@Dr.Ian-Plect]

What are you referring to and what is 'weren't just dolphins, but cetaceans as a whole before they were a thing' even supposed to mean?

[@reubenc0039]

​@@Dr.Ian-Plect it means that they didnt just converge on dolphin like anatomy but clearly filled a similar niche to non dolphin cetaceans too. Before the whales ever swam the seas, the "whale niche" belonged to this fantastic group of reptiles. What about this is confusing? It was articulated perfectly fine.

[@Dr.Ian-Plect]

@@reubenc0039 You have assumed I was confused, your first error, as I was seeking clarification. Your second is stating it as articulated perfectly fine, when it is ambiguous.

[@SherlandShrouht-esse]

@@Dr.Ian-Plect Dolphins are usually used as an analogy to ichthyosaurs, but their size and body plans varied just as much as modern day cetaceans as a whole.

[@Dr.Ian-Plect]

@@SherlandShrouht-esse - The 'analogy' you didn't get to regards convergence - Their body plan didn't vary, the all have the same one

[@dramallamarama5300]

Oh lawd he comin’ !!!

[@Scrinwaipwr]

Oh, this video will be lovely to watch for lunch break at work tomorrow. Nice one, Ben and team!

[@IcefloeProductions-qv2qg]

XD real

[@DreadEnder]

One of the most in depth videos I’ve seen on this subject

[@congruentcrib]

Something I always remember is that fossilization is rare… very rare. So we get standard sized skeletal remains. Issue is we treat the standard skeletal remains and act as if it was the biggest So sure we could have the largest ever to exist, but it’s more likely there existed a bigger version

[@Dell-ol6hb]

No it’s not more likely, the larger an animal is the more likely that some of its remains of it will survive to the modern day to be found by us

[@ianthe.w]

Big up Dr. Dean Lomax! Love his book in the background making an appearance, too.

[@Leptospirosi]

It would be a curiosity to scale the size of the eye on one of these chunkies to check if it would be bigger "than" the record set by a colossal squid

[@ME-kd1ko]

You can't just write "then" where the word doesn't fit. Do better next time.

[@Leptospirosi]

Writing through an ortographic corruptor is not easy.

[@First_Take.]

The problem with that idea is that deep sea creatures have disproportionately large eyes because there's not much light down there. Look at the eyes deep sea sharks vs regular sharks.

[@JoeAvila-u6y]

You are the Best explaining paleontologist that there is period. Benji

[@Martial-Mat]

Fascinating video Ben. I was particularly interested to hear how they reclassified the Aust fossil. The groove seems like such a small detail to have picked up on, and I can't help but wonder what made experts even consider looking at it through that lens. Do all paleontologists know of ALL unclassified bones, was it luck, or was someone looking at it with that specific idea in mind? As an aside, an 80 foot icthiosaur is longer than my entire house! It would have been awe inspiring to witness!

[@ianthe.w]

I feel like I was meant to see this today! Dr. Dean Lomax is my fave palaeontologist, I love icthyosaurs, and Blue Anchor is right by where my older family live. I spent a lot of my childhood picking up ammonites there with my grandparents, and also along the coast at Kilve and Watchet.

[@tonyantonellis9983]

Oh my god now I hope that the VR Ocean Rift will include this newly discovered itchyosaur being known as Itchyotitan.

[@kissedbysun2517]

I've been an icthyosaur nut since I received a book about dinosaurs when I was five, 53 years ago. It's so exciting that they are getting their time in the spotlight and there's so much to read available. I often create ichthyosaur art and I have a really cool fossil plate. If time travel was possible, I'd go back in time to see them.

[@jarrodkober]

I wonder if any massive fosils may be preserved and survive in the depths of oceans? I think of how whale falls can be found in abyssal zones. But there's speculation earlier bones were less lipid rich so they wouldn't survive. Some organisms eat bones of modern whale falls. Just fun to think there's even larger fosils out there just unfound because they're in the depths

[@davidschaftenaar6530]

Yeah, that's possible. Oceanic plates only have a max lifespan of about 150 - 200 million years or so, but that's more than long enough to cover the Mesozoic.

[@hackhunter1333]

As someone who lives in the shadow of Mount Shasta, I never get tired of learning about the Shastasaurids. They're so fascinating.

[@mikezizis3725]

Incredible, Ben!! Is there any evidence whatsoever that Any ichthyosaur species we're social, or is the current view there were all loners? These wee beasties are also my favorite.

[@sidrens5292]

Ben is absolutely incredible at presenting this channel and love the scientific research which goes into making these videos!

[@michaeldrabble2558]

Dr D! Hes from Donni my home town! Legend in South Yorkshire Circles! Great Vid BTW!

[@rexxar6283]

Hey man great video! I noticed that you get a bit awkward with eye contact when interviewing people, me too. Just stare at their nose and you'll find (hopefully) that you don't need to veer your eyes to the ground everytime the other person glances back at you. Hope this tip helps!

[@TheAmazingSpiderman87]

Orcas: Let's mug it!

[@Vtarngpb]

😂

[@Volcanoboy-zh9oh]

No seriously orcas are no joke they can literally take on almost any other animal since they are pack hunters

[@menzoueda2931]

Great presentation and truly fascinating video!😊☺️

[@nefelpitou]

I wonder why it seems to be the surrangulars that seem to be so preferentially preserved? Perhaps they were mineralized in such a way as to make fossilization more likely?

[@ManiacsSon]

2:47, by God look at the size of that thing. Missed you guys, good to be back, I hqve lots to catch up on Benny!🤝

[@AJScraps]

If this is true, I’m happy. I LOVE ICHTHYOSAURS😤😄

[@michaell1452]

more of Dr. Dean Lomax please. He's great!

[@SherlandShrouht-esse]

Yay, the ichthyosaur video you teased a few months ago!

[@sandrakiefler4649]

Dean is awesome man! I’m sure you have very much enjoyed any opportunities to speak to him phone or in person as you’ve made it known how you admire his work and circumstances as his story is amazing really😅👍😉

[@CollaateraL]

Amazing video bro. Thank you

[@ReneeZme]

I love how the man you interviewed said ''chonks''

[@NitroIndigo]

Why do tetrapods keep returning to the ocean? Also, at first I thought it was _Perucetus_ in the thumbnail, and I was confused because the size estimates were lowered months ago.

[@scottwells8064]

I would assume it's because there is/was an unfilled niche in the oceanic food chain.

[@eVillGaming-eng]

same reason why insects keep on doing it, free real estate

[@pipedreamer9781]

Because they are confident that they will impress during their high school reunion

[@KellyClowers]

It's fun, it's easy, it's free. Just like pouring river water in your shoe.

[@reesetoomre397]

The answer is probably that there are cases where non-fish body plans present some advantage and it’s easier for them to evolve on than then evolve fins than for fish to evolve into things like reptiles or mammals in the ocean

[@MikeDudley-b4b]

excellent presentation Ben.

[@vixenspirit5630]

Lindsay Nicole is gonna lose her fucking mind

[@myky992]

She really is the biggest enjoyer of big marine animals THAT WE KNOW OF

[@davidschaftenaar6530]

I think it's really cool that they included the finder and his daughter as named authors of their paper, wish that was done more often.

[@reeyees50]

Dean Lomax himself could be a gigantic dinosaur

[@agingerbeard]

Thanks this was fascinating as always

[@doragonzx]

Vividen prophecy of Kaiju sized macropredator Ichtyosaurs fufilled??

[@lamecasuelas2]

That guy wants everything to be kaiju size

[@MarcoAntonio-ks6sk]

@dorogonzx So it seems. And we haven't seen anything yet about Yellowstone Hyperpredator 🦈🤯

[@Saifywaifyx15]

​@@lamecasuelas2I mean, he wasn't wrong was he?

[@francissemyon7971]

​@@MarcoAntonio-ks6sk It's a megalodon, he announced it a while.

[@MarcoAntonio-ks6sk]

@@francissemyon7971 I know, that's why I put 🦈. I mean we don't know it's size yet, besides is +20 meters.

[@rossmelnyk1900]

I think you need to do video on the difference of teeth set in grooves as opposed to sockets. This is hard to understand....

[@Skeptical_Numbat]

Is there any evidence of sexual dymorphism among Ichthyosaurs? What did these giants sea reptiles eat? Did they exclusively eat fish (like Dolphins), or were there species specialising in hunting giant squid (like the Sperm Whale), or even filter feeders (like the Blue Whale)? What other species were commonplace in Triassic seas?

[@behzadahmad8818]

your channel has come along way man keep it up. i remember the edits of the earlier videos. 😂😂

[@Gapihamiha6]

I wonder how fast where small ones..with extreme hydrodynamic body and optimal tail design

[@eldraque4556]

It's really good how he included the discovers of the fossil in the paper

[@michaelbiscay9836]

Sad to hear about yet another paleontological casualty of WWII.

[@jonwashburn7999]

Thanks Ben.

[@krench421]

Can almost hear Lindsay Nikole in the background being pissed

[@Nobody_Important123]

I believe personally that she would be fascinated by this. The phrase "that we know of" is something she always throws out there, because it's science is always evolving and something new could always pop up.

[@nckojita]

@@Nobody_Important123 based on a previous video she did ab smth like this she’d be slightly mad for a second and then yes incredibly fascinated lol

[@darthcheney7447]

Top notch, Ben.

[@oldashfifa]

Largest ichthyosaurs may not have even fossilized

[@kyle857]

Largest blue whale probably hasn't either.

[@koboldking2991]

We ​find fewer and fewer fossils as we go back in time, so I'd wager we have better chances of finding the largest Cenzoic whale that ever lived than finding the largest Triassic icthyosaur.

[@LittleWhiteRabbitB]

I recently went camping out in Drumheller (which is in Alberta not B.C.) and visited the Royal Tyrell Museum. It had been about 10 years since my last visit, so it was wonderful to see what was new. The giant ichthyosaur really can't be appreciated for its size unless you're there, it is SO BIG. The Black Beauty skeleton was also on display, it was really striking to see! Definitely recommend going to visit if you get the chance! (Bring lots of water though, that museum is dry af and they do not have many fountains...)

[@tonyhaslam186]

Tables turn, tables turn. 😂😂😂😂😂😂 Y’all are the best.

[@S-T-E-V-E]

Amazing! I love this subject! There had to be some Colossal Squid hunting Ichthyosaurs! I wonder how long they could dive for?

[@Pygmygerbil88]

we are so blessed to live in an era where the gentle giant blue whale lives at 200 tonnes, the biggest animal to ever live on earth.

[@coltonross5414]

The Royal Tyrell Museum is amazing. I highly recommend anyone traveling through western Canada to visit it. They just updated their early life section this spring.

[@therainbowgulag.]

Big dinosaur rock!

[@Hauke-ph5ui]

Palaeontologists never say "this is the largest animal that has ever existed". They always say "this is the largest animal that has ever existed that we know of". Greater length doesn't necessarily mean greater animal btw - we know that some sauropods like Argentinosaurus where longer than blue whales...but blue whales are a lot heavier and thus overall bigger. So even if these ichtyosaurs might or might not have been longer - we don't know enough about their mass to decide if they where actually bigger than blue whales.

[@newjojosupercutsandmore2489]

Where have I heard this befooore

[@IdaiMakayaPublications]

It makes sense that reptiles were probably the largest ever life forms, considering that the land forms of reptiles were far bigger than equivalent niche mammals.

[@tanyabreach6422]

I miss Lyme. I wonder what Mary Anning would say about our new discoveries in Ichthyosaur. Fantastic to know something that size isn't just limited to the Blue Whale and Titanosaurs.

[@raphlvlogs271]

their equivalent of a dolphin trying to swallow an otter

[@rodchallis8031]

As a time traveller, all I can say is 'we're gonna need a bigger boat'.

[@adriannegrete9586]

Have you familiar with Gnatalie the green bone dinosaur coming to NHMLAC? At Fall, just in few months, where I live in Los Angeles, the NHM will open the new exhibit with this new Diplodocus with green bones and 3D theater about T.Rex. I'm sure you'll gives us details soon.

[@sfkeepay]

The odds that we exist contemporaneously with “the largest animal ever” are very nearly de minimis, particularly because ~99% of all species that ever lived, as most who frequent this channel know, are extinct.

[@Dell-ol6hb]

That’s not evolution works

[@andybandyb]

I’m a molecular evolutionary biologist and I can’t imagine feeling satisfied by 1000 samples in 16 years. Not sure I could handle the level of speculation you’d have to publish

[@shrekscousin1389]

That’s cool

[@mypetvelociraptor]

Great video! Subscribed

[@francissemyon7971]

I'm highly skeptical at the idea of a raptorial predator as large or larger than a blue whale especially in weight and without the feeding adaptations of balaenopterids. Too much conjecture here.

[@Mei23448]

stop yapping

[@francissemyon7971]

@@Mei23448 "Yellowstone Hyperpredator is a 225 t squalodon"🤡

[@Oinker-Sploinker]

@@Mei23448 stop crying

[@Mei23448]

@@Oinker-Sploinker stop yapping

[@Dell-ol6hb]

I fully agree, it's bizarre seeing nobody pointing out that this is all speculation, the sample they have is far too incomplete to make any realistic estimations on their size

[@joshuawayneyork]

I live in Shasta county in northern California, I'm gonna have to keep my eyes peeled for any Shastasaurids.

[@michelfraenkel4920]

So a species that lived before another species, is the mimic.?

[@Dr.Ian-Plect]

State the species in question please.

[@yousufakhtar9995]

mimics are decided by the human benchmark of what we knew of first, it doesnt matter if icthyosaurs existed way before dolphins, we knew of dolphins before the, therefore they mimicked icthyosaurs

[@AntoniusTyas]

It's called 'convergent evolution'

[@Dr.Ian-Plect]

@@yousufakhtar9995 tripe

[@Tar-Numendil]

Cymbospondylus and Temnodontosaurus are my favorite Ichthyosaurs.

[@rl9217]

“Finally, a worthy opponent! Our battle will be legendary!” -Blue Whales finding out about the discovery of giant Ichthyosaurs

[@JohnyG29]

The whale wouldn't stand a chance.

[@ojutay8375]

There are a handful of sauropods that possibly came close in weight

[@Oinker-Sploinker]

@@JohnyG29 blue whale would curb stop any fat lizard

[@Oinker-Sploinker]

@@ojutay8375 biggest sauropods - 80 tons biggest blue whale - 200 tons I dunno about that

[@ojutay8375]

@@Oinker-Sploinker there are two possible species that came close

[@tigrecito48]

3:43 can i ask what is the depression around the mouth bones? was that the original impression of its entire body, or is that just where theyve cut away the rock to make the bones clearer? cos otherwise i was thinking is head looks a lot fatter than the pictures lol

[@The_Story_Of_Us]

To dissuade people using statistics as justification for believing the Blue Whale is not the most massive animal that ever lived: There are only two groups of animals that could ever have matched or exceeded the Blue Whale in size: Ichthyosaurs and Sauropods. This means that the entire paleozoic era is removed from the statistics already. It also means we can remove the cenozoic from our calculations too (no, Perucetus wasn’t bigger). So really we are just looking at the roughly 180 million years of the Mesozoic era. And of that era, only a very small selection of species so much as hint at Blue Whale sized animals. Which means statistically the idea that Blue Whales are the most massive animals to have ever lived is in fact statistically fairly likely. We have basically no evidence to suggest 200 ton Sauropods existed and so they are also made statistically less likely and the same also applies to Ichthyosaurs as they weren’t really built the same as Blues, even the Aust Ichthyosaur wasn’t bigger and even an animal 50% larger than it probably wouldn’t have weighed 200 tons or more. Statistically speaking, the Blue Whale is the most massive animal ever with very very high odds. Mass is not the only measure of size, but it is one of them. And you wouldn’t call a Lion’s Mane Jellyfish bigger than a Blue because it’s longer, right? So I find the comparison more interesting as a benchmark rather than a competition with the giant, blubbery ocean torpedo of krill genocide basically designed to be the heaviest animal that ever lived. I will eat my words if ever something is truly discovered, but I doubt it. Best for now is getting CLOSE, rather than bigger.

[@laurencewinch-furness9450]

Bigger animals have smaller populations, so the odds of finding a fossil of a giant creature are statistically lower. While Perucetus might not have been bigger than a blue whale, there could easily have been some other cetacean from the cenozoic that was bigger and hasn't been discovered. Some Temnospondyls were also adapting to live in the ocean. Perhaps there was a massive Permian axolotl cruising the panthalasa ocean - that's been lost to history? Unlikely, but one can dream!

[@r.k845]

Hectors Ichyo literally is bigger going by estimates. Average blue is 150.

[@frost7463]

@@r.k845Hector’s ichthyosaur is known from poorly described and missing remains, you can’t say it was larger than a blue whale for certain. Definitely a huge animal, but how huge is up in the air.

[@bearhustler]

Mmmmm, giant temnospondyls

[@The_Story_Of_Us]

@@bearhustler largest ones are barely bigger than large Saltwater crocodiles. Pretty sure they were out of the race before it even began

[@dylonq1047]

First time I’ve seen your face and it perfectly matches your voice

[@Divine_Serpent_Geh]

Funny how Ophthalmosaurus made me think all Ichtyosaurs were cute Jurassic Dolphins. I vote for one these monsters to appear in the next MEG movie 🍿

[@Oinker-Sploinker]

if it does it's gonna get torn in half in the opening scene

[@BananaCake26]

Guesstimates from such fragmentary remains are pretty useless. Palaeontologists tend to overestimate extinct animals sizes, which are then corrected and downsized when more fossil material is found. There are many examples of this, even from Cenozoic animals, which have much more closely related living relatives than ichthyosaurs.