Imagine an animal so oppressive that even the modern ocean bullies, The Killer Whale, couldn't thrive at the same time this animal did. That's insane.

I never realized that there were so many species of predatory whales around back in the Miocene. Imagine if some were still around today! Deep sea fishing would be a very risky venture with those monsters hunting the depths.

Megalodon : finally a worthy opponent. Our battle will be legendary

Thank you so very much!

My absolute favorite physeteriod. Mad respect for giving my boy megalodon a run for its money. The oceans back then must have been an amazing and terrifying place.

It still kinda bugs me that the reason it's called Livyatan and not Leviathan is because some dumbass thought it would be a great idea to use "Leviathan" as part of the scientific name of some elephant. But that's just me.

Great vid as always Dr Polaris! As my previous comment stated, this is one of my favorite subjects with their amazing diet and evosystem that made their home and it's always so fascinating hearing more about them and having them see the spotlight.

It staggers me, the world we almost inherited. How different would human history have been...?

"Cetaceans were the only group of mammals to entirely sever their ties to the land". Manatees: "We"re floating right here!"

For April 1st. you should do a piece on Dr. Zoidberg as an actual specimen...

Livyatan is probably my favorite Cenozoic carnivore.

"Cetaceans were the only group of mammals to entirely sever their links to the land..."

It's always peculiar how, when discussing what the largest active predator on the planet was, Physeter macrocephalus is almost always neglected. But the modern day sperm whale is a serious contender for the title. It could be the largest predator this planet has ever seen, depending of course on how one defines predator. While many large, now extinct, carnivorous marine predators seem to reach sizes of around 13 to 17 meters, a couple of species go beyond that, and we get those truly giant 'macro' predators that go up to 18 or 20 meters. It already occurred in the Triassic, with some species of Shastasaurus reaching a mind-blowing 21 meters. Mosasaurus hoffmannii could potentially be grouped in this 18+ meter size range. Basilosaurus cetoidus, with its almost absurdly elongated body reached 20 meters, but its weight wouldn't have been that impressive. Megalodon's size is often exaggerated in pop-culture, but I think it belongs in the size range of 13 to 17 meters; not quite up there with the really big boys. You then get to Livyatan, and it's not entirely clear how big it was; 18 meters perhaps, but who knows how large individual animals could have grown. What IS known, however, is that male sperm whales can reach 20 meters in length. Although 18 meters seems to be a more average size for large males, the largest accepted size measured is 20,7 meters. One individual was said to have been 24 meters, according to a report from the 1930s. The infamous and devilish Mocha Dick was said to have been even larger than that. If this is true, if male sperm whales did reach up to or even surpassed the 24 meters, then I honestly can't think of any other predator, extinct or extant, that could match that; effectively making the sperm whale the largest predatory animal the world has ever seen, for as far as we know.

Random fact: I was reading articles about livyatan about 8 hours ago.

Never heard of dwarf sperm whales. Thank you.

This is how I get back at my thalassophobia

Orcas are maybe the replacement of the mid sized raptorial sperm whales from the past but not the Livyatan, no single orca can possibly attack the baleen giant whales while the Livyatan was definitely doing that regularly, similar size, sonar and those jaws...

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