We went to the American Museum of Natural History over the weekend, always good for raising unanswerable questions. So why were the Basilosaurinae -- late Eocene whale species -- so long and big? And they were, at least the big species, big:
how did Basilosaurus measure up against the giant marine animals of prehistoric times? Well, it was certainly bigger than either Kronosaurus or Liopleurodon (the biggest members of the breed of marine reptiles known as pliosaurs), and it seemed to be in roughly the same weight class as the monster shark Megalodon, which lived at least 10 million years later.
We're talking 15-22 meters. But what is weirder is the elongated form, not like modern large whales.
Also I'd not understood that there were Home erectus populations with average height well over 6 feet (or maybe there are just tall individuals?). So not, not only were Neaderthals stronger, Home erectus, a least in part, was stronger and larger than us. Still, probably mostly Home sapiens size, but evidence is surprisingly limited.
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