An international team of scientists led by Dr. Eli Amson, paleontologist at the State Museum of Natural History Stuttgart, Germany, has discovered and studied the fossilized skeleton of a new species of early whale. This ancient relative of today’s whales, dolphins and porpoises lived in coastal waters about 39 million years ago and had an enormous body mass. The new species is named Perucetus colossus, „the colossal whale from Peru“. He is a contender for the title of „heaviest animal of all time“. The research results of the team of scientists as well as the description of the new species Perucetus colossus, were published in the scientific journal „Nature“.