# Livyatan
**Livyatan** (*Livyatan melvillei*) is an extinct macroraptorial sperm whale from the middle Miocene of Peru, described in 2010 from a skull about 3 m long and equipped with the largest known biting teeth of any animal, more than 36 cm including root.[1](https://museohn.unmsm.edu.pe/docs/pub_pv/Lambert_et_al_2010_giant_sperm_whale_Peru_Livyatan.pdf) • [2](https://extinctatlas.com/species/livyatan) It was one of the largest predators of its seas, living alongside the giant shark *Carcharocles megalodon*.[1](https://museohn.unmsm.edu.pe/docs/pub_pv/Lambert_et_al_2010_giant_sperm_whale_Peru_Livyatan.pdf)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Scientific name | *Livyatan melvillei* Lambert et al., 2010; originally published as *Leviathan melvillei*[1](https://museohn.unmsm.edu.pe/docs/pub_pv/Lambert_et_al_2010_giant_sperm_whale_Peru_Livyatan.pdf) • [3](https://www.nature.com/articles/nature09381) |
| Age | Late middle Miocene, Serravallian stage, about 12–13 million years ago[1](https://museohn.unmsm.edu.pe/docs/pub_pv/Lambert_et_al_2010_giant_sperm_whale_Peru_Livyatan.pdf) |
| Holotype | MUSM 1676, a 75% complete skull with teeth and mandible, from Cerro Colorado, Pisco Formation, Peru[1](https://museohn.unmsm.edu.pe/docs/pub_pv/Lambert_et_al_2010_giant_sperm_whale_Peru_Livyatan.pdf) |
| Estimated length | 13.5 m to 16.2–17.5 m, in the range of adult male sperm whales[4](https://arpi.unipi.it/bitstream/11568/814760/12/Postprint_Macroraptorial%20sperm%20whales.pdf) |
| Teeth | Functional teeth in both upper and lower jaws; largest more than 36 cm including root[2](https://extinctatlas.com/species/livyatan) |
| Diet | Likely medium-sized baleen whales, taken by biting and tearing rather than suction feeding[5](https://www.vliz.be/imisdocs/publications/ocrd/212617.pdf) • [6](https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1312/9/11/1188) |
| Contemporaries | *Carcharocles megalodon* and *Cosmopolitodus* sharks in the same Pisco Formation seas[7](https://arpi.unipi.it/handle/11568/834361) |
## Discovery and naming
The holotype, specimen MUSM 1676 at the Museo de Historia Natural, Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos in Lima, is a 75% complete skull with rostrum, damaged maxillary teeth, the right side of the cranium, dentaries, and ten associated isolated teeth. It was found at Cerro Colorado in the Pisco-Ica desert, 35 km south-southwest of Ica on the southern coast of Peru, in the lowest beds of the Pisco Formation.[1](https://museohn.unmsm.edu.pe/docs/pub_pv/Lambert_et_al_2010_giant_sperm_whale_Peru_Livyatan.pdf) The discovery was made in 2008 by Peruvian and foreign paleontologists and includes the skull, mandible, and more than 20 teeth.[8](https://andina.pe/agencia/noticia-fosiles-ballena-asesina-del-peru-se-exhiben-museo-historia-natural-385322.aspx)
The genus name was first published as *[Leviathan](https://www.edgepedia.org/leviathan)*, from the Hebrew word for the biblical sea monster, with the species name honoring the novelist [Herman Melville](https://www.edgepedia.org/herman-melville) (1819–1891), author of *Moby-Dick*. Because *Leviathan* Koch, 1841 had already been used for a mastodon, a junior synonym of *Mammut*, the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature barred the name, and an erratum renamed the genus *Livyatan*, the original Hebrew spelling.[1](https://museohn.unmsm.edu.pe/docs/pub_pv/Lambert_et_al_2010_giant_sperm_whale_Peru_Livyatan.pdf) • [3](https://www.nature.com/articles/nature09381)
## Size and classification
Livyatan belongs to the Physeteroidea, the group containing modern sperm whales, within the [toothed whales](https://www.edgepedia.org/toothed-whale) (Odontoceti).[2](https://extinctatlas.com/species/livyatan) Its lineage shows an abrupt, independent size increase: the postorbital width of the holotype skull is 1,900 mm, and comparisons of cranial dimensions with the modern sperm whale *Physeter macrocephalus* and the smaller raptorial whale *Zygophyseter varolai* give body length estimates of 13.5 m and 16.2–17.5 m, within the range of adult male sperm whales.[4](https://arpi.unipi.it/bitstream/11568/814760/12/Postprint_Macroraptorial%20sperm%20whales.pdf) A review of body size evolution gives a comparable estimate of about 13–17 m, smaller than the largest recorded modern sperm whales at 19 m.[9](https://www.annualreviews.org/docserver/fulltext/ecolsys/54/1/annurev-ecolsys-102220-025458.pdf?accname=guest&checksum=37E846385F75E1AF549E58BEE46E726E&expires=1778442963&id=id)
## Anatomy and feeding
Unlike the modern sperm whale, which lacks functional upper teeth and feeds on deep-sea squid by suction, Livyatan had massive, deeply rooted teeth in both jaws, a short wide snout, and sharp tooth tips bearing deep gouges from wear against opposing teeth.[10](https://www.nyit.edu/medicine/college-of-osteopathic-medicine/anatomy/evolution-of-dolphins-and-whales/cetacean-family-tree/evolution-of-dolphins-and-whaleslivyatan-melvillei/) The teeth are about 14 inches long and 4–5 inches wide, more than double the size of the largest known *Tyrannosaurus rex* teeth.[10](https://www.nyit.edu/medicine/college-of-osteopathic-medicine/anatomy/evolution-of-dolphins-and-whales/cetacean-family-tree/evolution-of-dolphins-and-whaleslivyatan-melvillei/) Compared with *Physeter*, *Livyatan* has a proportionally bigger site on the skull where the temporalis, the chief muscle used to shut the jaws, attaches, a proportion comparable to that seen in the killer whale (*Orcinus orca*).[10](https://www.nyit.edu/medicine/college-of-osteopathic-medicine/anatomy/evolution-of-dolphins-and-whales/cetacean-family-tree/evolution-of-dolphins-and-whaleslivyatan-melvillei/)
Like modern sperm whales, Livyatan had a concave supracranial basin on top of the skull, which in living species houses the spermaceti organ and melon used in echolocation, suggesting it could echolocate in a similar manner.[10](https://www.nyit.edu/medicine/college-of-osteopathic-medicine/anatomy/evolution-of-dolphins-and-whales/cetacean-family-tree/evolution-of-dolphins-and-whaleslivyatan-melvillei/) Its mouth was approximately six feet long and four feet wide, about three times the size of a killer whale's mouth.[10](https://www.nyit.edu/medicine/college-of-osteopathic-medicine/anatomy/evolution-of-dolphins-and-whales/cetacean-family-tree/evolution-of-dolphins-and-whaleslivyatan-melvillei/)
The original description inferred that Livyatan preyed predominantly on medium-size baleen whales (mysticetes), whose high fat content would meet the caloric demands of a huge endothermic predator, while remaining capable of taking large fish, pinnipeds, and other odontocetes.[5](https://www.vliz.be/imisdocs/publications/ocrd/212617.pdf) Later palaeoecological work confirms that macroraptorial sperm whales fed by biting and tearing or shearing large prey rather than suction feeding, and that *L. melvillei* could plausibly have targeted larger species such as cetotheriid whales.[6](https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1312/9/11/1188)
## Livyatan and megalodon
Livyatan and *Carcharocles megalodon* overlapped broadly in Miocene oceans and probably targeted some of the same marine mammals, but their feeding systems differed: Livyatan gripped with large conical teeth, while megalodon sliced with broad serrated teeth.[2](https://extinctatlas.com/species/livyatan) Length ranges overlap in the mid-teens of meters, while maximum megalodon models extend longer and much heavier; Livyatan estimates rest on a single skull, whereas megalodon estimates rely on teeth and vertebrae.[11](https://extinctatlas.com/species-guide/livyatan-vs-megalodon-size-bite-evidence) No fossil records a fight, kill, or stable dominance between the two, and the original description notes only that the coexistence of the two giant predators in the same mysticete-rich [Serravallian](https://www.edgepedia.org/serravallian) locality may be ecologically relevant.[2](https://extinctatlas.com/species/livyatan) • [5](https://www.vliz.be/imisdocs/publications/ocrd/212617.pdf)
In the Pisco Formation ecosystem, Livyatan and megalodon were the largest of several apex predators, alongside *Cosmopolitodus* and [tiger sharks](https://www.edgepedia.org/tiger-shark), in seas based on sardine productivity that otherwise resemble the modern [Humboldt Current](https://www.edgepedia.org/humboldt-current) ecosystem.[6](https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1312/9/11/1188) Raptorial sperm whales such as *Acrophyseter* and Livyatan probably held the top mammalian-predator position in the Pisco ecosystem through the middle Miocene to early Pliocene, a role now occupied by the killer whale.[12](https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00531-021-02003-1)
## Extinction
Livyatan went extinct, and one account links its demise to climate change that led to the disappearance of medium-sized baleen whales, its most important prey; its cousin, the modern sperm whale, survived by specializing in large deep-dwelling squid.[13](https://www.naturalsciences.be/file/cc73d96153bbd5448a56f19d925d05b1379c7f21/70dc922844a77034effd0f51c0b060e27b4e7ac2/dd-e-giants-2023-4.pdf?name=DD_E+Giants_2023_4.pdf&type=application%2Fpdf) The extinction of the last raptorial sperm whales left the raptorial-cetacean niche unfilled until the rise of modern killer whales.[6](https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1312/9/11/1188)
## References
1. [Lambert, O., Bianucci, G., Post, K., de Muizon, C., Salas-Gismondi, R., Urbina, M., & Reumer, J. (2010). The giant bite of a new raptorial sperm whale from the Miocene epoch of Peru. Nature 466:105–108.](https://museohn.unmsm.edu.pe/docs/pub_pv/Lambert_et_al_2010_giant_sperm_whale_Peru_Livyatan.pdf)
2. [Livyatan: Size, Skull, Teeth, Diet & Megalodon Comparison, Extinct Atlas](https://extinctatlas.com/species/livyatan)
3. [Erratum: The giant bite of a new raptorial sperm whale from the Miocene epoch of Peru, Nature 466:1134 (2010)](https://www.nature.com/articles/nature09381)
4. [Bianucci, G. & colleagues. Postprint on macroraptorial sperm whales, Università di Pisa](https://arpi.unipi.it/bitstream/11568/814760/12/Postprint_Macroraptorial%20sperm%20whales.pdf)
5. [Lambert et al. (2010) full text, VLIZ](https://www.vliz.be/imisdocs/publications/ocrd/212617.pdf)
6. [Collareta, A. et al. (2021). Vertebrate Palaeoecology of the Pisco Formation (Miocene, Peru): Glimpses into the Ancient Humboldt Current Ecosystem. JMSE 9(11):1188.](https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1312/9/11/1188)
7. [Swimming with Livyatan: a reconstruction of the vertebrate marine fauna from the Miocene of Peru, Università di Pisa](https://arpi.unipi.it/handle/11568/834361)
8. [Fósiles de ballena asesina del Perú se exhiben en Museo de Historia Natural, Agencia Andina](https://andina.pe/agencia/noticia-fosiles-ballena-asesina-del-peru-se-exhiben-museo-historia-natural-385322.aspx)
9. [The repeated, independent evolution of gigantism, Annual Review of Ecology, Evolution, and Systematics 54 (2023)](https://www.annualreviews.org/docserver/fulltext/ecolsys/54/1/annurev-ecolsys-102220-025458.pdf?accname=guest&checksum=37E846385F75E1AF549E58BEE46E726E&expires=1778442963&id=id)
10. [Livyatan melvillei, New York Institute of Technology, cetacean family tree](https://www.nyit.edu/medicine/college-of-osteopathic-medicine/anatomy/evolution-of-dolphins-and-whales/cetacean-family-tree/evolution-of-dolphins-and-whaleslivyatan-melvillei/)
11. [Livyatan vs Megalodon: Size, Bite and Fossil Evidence, Extinct Atlas](https://extinctatlas.com/species-guide/livyatan-vs-megalodon-size-bite-evidence)
12. [Late Neogene evolution of the Peruvian margin and its ecosystems: a synthesis from the Sacaco record, International Journal of Earth Sciences (2021)](https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00531-021-02003-1)
13. [Giants exhibition text, Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences (2023)](https://www.naturalsciences.be/file/cc73d96153bbd5448a56f19d925d05b1379c7f21/70dc922844a77034effd0f51c0b060e27b4e7ac2/dd-e-giants-2023-4.pdf?name=DD_E+Giants_2023_4.pdf&type=application%2Fpdf)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Life and health › Animals › Vertebrates › Mammals › Cetaceans*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 21, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 21, 2026 · Last review: Oct 21, 2026*
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License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license