Re: Whales v. Dinosaurs

[Stanley Friesen <sarima@ix.netcom.com>]

At 09:39 PM 4/23/98 EDT, jamolnar@juno.com wrote:
>I've never read of any Blue whales over 130 tons.  Again, maybe
>Smithsonian can verify.

The difficulty in al this is that for Blue Whales, our records are
incomplete in some respects.  The whalers did not measure total weight for
their kills - only the "useful" weight, and their length records are
sporadic.  Thus, the weight estimates for the largest observed blue whales
are just that - estimates, and fairly coarse ones at that.

>Only if we verify the weight of over 130 tons for the whale; and 
>not if we find enough of Amphicoelias to verify its weight as being 
>heavier than the whale's
>
I believe the largest recorded blue whales date from whaler records of the
last century or early this century. This makes it hard to verify maximum
weights, as the populations have not recovered sufficiently to regenerate
maximally sized individuals.

--------------
May the peace of God be with you.         sarima@ix.netcom.com
                                          sfriesen@netlock.com