rock
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Post by rock on May 11, 2019 21:12:24 GMT 5
Brygmophyseter Like many other prehistoric whales of its type Brygmophyseter had teeth in both the upper and lower jaws. As a mid-sized whale, Brygmophyseter would have probably been a generalist hunter tackling a variety of different prey types including fish, squid, and probably other whales. Not much is known about the hunting behaviour, but if Brygmophyseter possessed a developed spermaceti organ like existing sperm whales do, then it may have been able to use echolocation to find prey. It has also been suggested to swim in pods like other whales do, but this is purely conjecture based upon existing whale behaviour that has been documented and observed. Although a predator itself, Brygmophyseter has been depicted as a prey item for the gigantic shark C. megalodon. This is a plausible scenario as not only did the two predators swim the oceans at the same time, C. megalodon had a cosmopolitan distribution as evidenced by C. megalodon fossils found all over the world. On top of this large C. megalodon appear to have been specialists at hunting and killing whales like Brygmophyseter.  killer whale-orca The killer whale (Orcinus orca), commonly referred to as the orca whale or orca, and less commonly as the blackfish, is a toothed whale belonging to the oceanic dolphin family. Killer whales are found in all oceans, from the frigid Arctic and Antarctic regions to tropical seas. Killer whales as a species have a diverse diet, although individual populations often specialize in particular types of prey. Some feed exclusively on fish, while others hunt marine mammals such as sea lions, seals, walruses and even large whales. Killer whales are regarded as apex predators, lacking natural predators. Killer whales distinctively bear a black back, white chest and sides, and a white patch above and behind the eye. Killer whales have a heavy and robust body with a large dorsal fin up to 2 metres (6.6 ft) tall. Behind the fin, they have a dark grey "saddle patch" across the back. Antarctic killer whales may have pale grey to nearly white backs. Adult killer whales are very distinctive and are not usually confused with any other sea creature. The killer whale's teeth are very strong and covered in enamel. Its jaws are a powerful gripping apparatus, as the upper teeth fall into the gaps between the lower teeth when the mouth is closed. The front teeth are inclined slightly forward and outward, thus allowing the killer whale to withstand powerful jerking movements from its prey while the middle and back teeth hold it firmly in place. Killer whales are the largest extant members of the dolphin family. Males typically range from 6 to 8 metres (20–26 ft) long and weigh in excess of 6 tonnes (5.9 long tons; 6.6 short tons). Females are smaller, generally ranging from 5 to 7 metres (16–23 ft) and weighing about 3 to 4 tonnes (3.0 to 3.9 long tons; 3.3 to 4.4 short tons). The largest male killer whale on record was 9.8 metres (32 ft), weighing over 10 tonnes (9.8 long tons; 11 short tons), while the largest female was 8.5 metres (28 ft), weighing 7.5 tonnes (7.4 long tons; 8.3 short tons).  shallow water  deep water  |
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Post by dinosauria101 on May 11, 2019 23:14:46 GMT 5
Nice!
I'd give this to Brygmophyseter, it seems to have much more impressive jaws and teeth relative to its size, as well as a larger skull. That should help it land some good, killing bites.
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rock
Senior Member Rank 1
Posts: 1,586
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Post by rock on May 11, 2019 23:19:51 GMT 5
Nice! I'd give this to Brygmophyseter, it seems to have much more impressive jaws and teeth relative to its size, as well as a larger skull. That should help it land some good, killing bites. i do not know much about Brygmophyseter , so i will just go off your oppion |
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Post by jhg on Oct 17, 2020 10:59:20 GMT 5
I'm not sure how heavy Brygmophyseter weighed but I do know killer whales were the size of Tyrannosaurus. This might be easy or hard to call.
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Post by elosha11 on Oct 18, 2020 1:51:49 GMT 5
While Brygmophyseter did have formidable jaws and teeth, closer to Livyatan than to an orca, and also seem to have a thicker skeletal frame than orca at similar lengths, the only known holotype of the skeleton is about 7 m long. And I don't think there have been any other teeth discovered suggesting a much greater size than that. If in fact, the whale could only reach 7 meters, it would probably be outsized for the most part. The orca is already an incredibly bulky animal, so if the whale was even more bulky and stronger at similar lengths, that would suggest an incredibly powerful creature. However, orca's quite frequently reach 8 or even 9 m. With that type of size advantage, I still probably back the orca but probably not at parity. Interestingly enough, there was a study that suggested that Megalodon preyed upon such midsize biting sperm whale creatures. If they were "only" 7 m, it appears they were incredibly formidable mid-size predators and probably lived in some type of social structure, although maybe not as large as Orca pods.
One last thing I will note. I'll be posting the comparison of a 5.5 m Orca compared to a 5.5 m Brygmophyseter. While I have no doubt the whale had larger and more formidable jaws (although the orca's are also quite formidable), I'm more skeptical about the difference in bone structure size. If the whale maxed out at around 7 meters, a 5.5 meter individual would likely be an average-sized adult. But a 5.5 m orca would be a sub adult or a very small adult. I wonder if it is possible that the bone structure of an orca becomes thicker and more larger as it reaches the 7-8 m range. In other words, we might be comparing apples to oranges with an average adult whale, and a sub-adult orca. Which could definitely affect what looks like a substantial disparity in the comparative size of the bone structures.
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Post by elosha11 on Oct 18, 2020 1:55:57 GMT 5
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Post by elosha11 on Oct 18, 2020 4:08:05 GMT 5
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Post by jhg on Jul 19, 2023 5:50:05 GMT 5
Perhaps a 3-4 tonne Brygmophyseter seems reasonable. At any rate, it's smaller than the killer whale.
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Post by Infinity Blade on Jul 19, 2023 6:46:57 GMT 5
Maybe a female orca would be better?
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Post by theropod on Jul 19, 2023 18:02:26 GMT 5
Perhaps a 3-4 tonne Brygmophyseter seems reasonable. At any rate, it's smaller than the killer whale. Based on some preliminary estimates that I made, 3 t is about right for the holotype of Brygmophyseter. However, as noted by CetologyHub, the holotype is likely not fully grown. That doesn’t necessarily mean it isn’t an adult (sexually mature) individual, if stem-physeroids grew like modern sperm whales, but it does at least make it more likely that it might underrepresent the typical size of mature individuals. Who knows, maybe that played into the reasons why the Jurassic Fight Club people oversized this genus so much; in addition to fragmentary specimens of larger physeteroids, maybe it was brought to their attention that the holotype looks immature. |
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Post by jhg on Jul 20, 2023 1:14:48 GMT 5
But not that far from fully grown and certainly not Otodus megalodon sized.
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Post by theropod on Jul 21, 2023 0:27:46 GMT 5
But not that far from fully grown and certainly not Otodus megalodon sized. Yes, almost certainly. While I’m no expert on mammal ontogeny, I would expect far less fusion than there is in that skeleton. Like it is, some of the Epiphyses aren’t fused, but many others are, so it probably isn’t fully mature, but also not a neonate young juvenile, which it would have to be in order for the adults to be in that size range. I didn’t mean to imply that JFC was in any way correct to oversize it, merely speculating on what could have been their pretext for doing it. Just like we all agree that the WWD Liopleurodon was a ludicrous exaggeration, but we still know the reasoning (mostly Dave Martill’s reasoning) that they used to try and justify it. I’m only noting that comparing the Brygmophyseter holotype and only known specimen to adult orcas is a bit complicated by the issue of it probably not being fully grown. If CetologyHub is correct in his assessment, which I tend to think he is (as the guy is quite knowledgeable and his reasoning intuitively makes sense, I had been wondering about the missing epiphyses in the specimen before) would imply that if it was an adult, it would likely be a young and relatively small one). So we can’t really conclusively say if it is smaller than an orca, the same size, or possibly larger, because we don’t have an exact standard of comparing them without closer ontogenetic comparisons. Those could arguably be made if we had some more information on the growth stage of the specimen, but aren’t available at this time. This is especially in reference to the much earlier quote from me that Elosha posted above, which was an incorrect assessment on my part. |
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