Post by poseidon on Aug 8, 2021 2:27:22 GMT 5
Sperm Whale
The sperm whale or cachalot (Physeter macrocephalus) is the largest of the toothed whales and the largest toothed predator. It is the only living member of the genus Physeter and one of three extant species in the sperm whale family, along with the pygmy sperm whale and dwarf sperm whale of the genus Kogia. Mature males average 16 metres (52 ft) in length but some may reach 20.7 metres (68 ft), with the head representing up to one-third of the animal's length. Plunging to 2,250 metres (7,382 ft), it is the third deepest diving mammal, exceeded only by the southern elephant seal and Cuvier's beaked whale. The sperm whale uses echolocation and vocalization as loud as 230 decibels (re 1 µPa m) underwater. It has the largest brain on Earth, more than five times heavier than a human's. Sperm whales can live 70 years or more.
Pliosaurus - Pliosaurus funkei (Predator X)
Pliosaurus (meaning 'more lizard') is an extinct genus of thalassophonean pliosaurid known from the Kimmeridgian and Tithonian stages (Late Jurassic) of Europe and South America. Their diet would have included fish, cephalopods, and marine reptiles. This genus has contained many species in the past but recent reviews found only eleven to be valid, while the validity of two additional species awaits a petition to the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature. Pliosaurus currently consists of the type species P. brachydeirus, and also P. brachyspondylus, P. carpenteri, P. funkei, P. kevani, P. macromerus, P. rossicus and P. westburyensis, as well as the invalid P. portentificus. Most species of Pliosaurus are notable for their large body size, while the others, P. brachydeirus, P. brachyspondylus and P. portentificus, are known exclusively from immature individuals. Species of this genus are differentiated from other pliosaurids based on seven autapomorphies, including teeth that are triangular in cross section. Using Liopleurodon, another large pliosaurid, as a guide, a specimen found in the Svalbard islands of northern Europe has been estimated to have been 15 metres (49 ft) long, 45,000 kilograms (99,000 lb) in weight and had teeth 30 centimetres (12 in) long. It is estimated to have lived approximately 147 million years ago. Later on, thorough scrutiny of this Svalbard specimen revealed that it was not as massive as originally claimed; total length estimates have been revised to 10–13 metres (33–43 ft) and was named Pliosaurus funkei in Knutsen et al. 2012, with estimated skull lengths of 160–200 cm and a forelimb length of 300 cm for the holotype (PMO 214.135), and an estimated skull length of 200–250 cm for the referred specimen (PMO 214.136), suggesting that the animal had proportionally bigger flippers than other pliosaurs compared to the skull size and dimensions of the vertebrae. This estimate has since been questioned due to the smaller size of P. funkei vertebrae in comparison to Kronosaurus, which was used to obtain the 10–13 metres (33–43 ft) estimate. Analysis of bones from the four flippers suggest that the animal cruised using just two fore-flippers, using the back pair for extra speed when pursuing and capturing prey. P. funkei brain was of a similar type and size, proportionally, to that of today's great white shark.
The sperm whale or cachalot (Physeter macrocephalus) is the largest of the toothed whales and the largest toothed predator. It is the only living member of the genus Physeter and one of three extant species in the sperm whale family, along with the pygmy sperm whale and dwarf sperm whale of the genus Kogia. Mature males average 16 metres (52 ft) in length but some may reach 20.7 metres (68 ft), with the head representing up to one-third of the animal's length. Plunging to 2,250 metres (7,382 ft), it is the third deepest diving mammal, exceeded only by the southern elephant seal and Cuvier's beaked whale. The sperm whale uses echolocation and vocalization as loud as 230 decibels (re 1 µPa m) underwater. It has the largest brain on Earth, more than five times heavier than a human's. Sperm whales can live 70 years or more.
Pliosaurus - Pliosaurus funkei (Predator X)
Pliosaurus (meaning 'more lizard') is an extinct genus of thalassophonean pliosaurid known from the Kimmeridgian and Tithonian stages (Late Jurassic) of Europe and South America. Their diet would have included fish, cephalopods, and marine reptiles. This genus has contained many species in the past but recent reviews found only eleven to be valid, while the validity of two additional species awaits a petition to the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature. Pliosaurus currently consists of the type species P. brachydeirus, and also P. brachyspondylus, P. carpenteri, P. funkei, P. kevani, P. macromerus, P. rossicus and P. westburyensis, as well as the invalid P. portentificus. Most species of Pliosaurus are notable for their large body size, while the others, P. brachydeirus, P. brachyspondylus and P. portentificus, are known exclusively from immature individuals. Species of this genus are differentiated from other pliosaurids based on seven autapomorphies, including teeth that are triangular in cross section. Using Liopleurodon, another large pliosaurid, as a guide, a specimen found in the Svalbard islands of northern Europe has been estimated to have been 15 metres (49 ft) long, 45,000 kilograms (99,000 lb) in weight and had teeth 30 centimetres (12 in) long. It is estimated to have lived approximately 147 million years ago. Later on, thorough scrutiny of this Svalbard specimen revealed that it was not as massive as originally claimed; total length estimates have been revised to 10–13 metres (33–43 ft) and was named Pliosaurus funkei in Knutsen et al. 2012, with estimated skull lengths of 160–200 cm and a forelimb length of 300 cm for the holotype (PMO 214.135), and an estimated skull length of 200–250 cm for the referred specimen (PMO 214.136), suggesting that the animal had proportionally bigger flippers than other pliosaurs compared to the skull size and dimensions of the vertebrae. This estimate has since been questioned due to the smaller size of P. funkei vertebrae in comparison to Kronosaurus, which was used to obtain the 10–13 metres (33–43 ft) estimate. Analysis of bones from the four flippers suggest that the animal cruised using just two fore-flippers, using the back pair for extra speed when pursuing and capturing prey. P. funkei brain was of a similar type and size, proportionally, to that of today's great white shark.
