LIGHTWEIGHT BASILOSAURS

[GSP1954@aol.com]

Recently it was claimed that because Basilosaurus was probably not as
snake-like as often restored that it was heavy as well as long. According to
Lockyer (1981) 20 m long fin and blue whales weigh about 45 tonnes. Of course
these are massively built beasts. Skeletal drawings show that the total
length/trunk depth ratio of slender Basilosaurus was about twice that seen in
rorguals, so the former should have weighed about four times less per meter
even after applying as much blubber as plauisble. Therefore a 20 m
Basilosaurus may have weighed something over 10 tonnes, less if these
flexible bodied, warm ocean forms actually were less well insulated than
their stouter, colder water relatives. As far as I know, it was not until the
late Cenozoic that this mass value was exceeded among whales. 

GSPaul