At all times, people were especially interested in objects whose dimensions are many times larger or smaller sizes person. Let's ask ourselves which of the organisms living on Earth is the largest and smallest? It turns out that each Kingdom of living Nature has its own "champions"!

Plants are giants and dwarfs. Among the plants, the largest are trees, giant eucalyptus trees. They grow in Australia and reach 100 meters in height! That's the height of a 30-story building! In the seas of the southern hemisphere, the world's largest algae, the pear-bearing macrocystis, is found. Of course, no pears grow on it, but its total length can reach 300 m! What about the smallest plants? These are the smallest algae floating in the thickness of reservoirs - phytoplankton. In Greek, this word means "soaring or wandering plants." Pay attention to the fact that the words "phytoplankton" and "planet" have a common Greek root! And those and these are wandering! Phytoplankton organisms are composed of one or more cells, and many of these are only visible under a microscope. But their mass is simply huge. Biologists estimate the weight of phytoplankton living in the oceans, seas, lakes and reservoirs at 30 billion tons! Have you noticed how, on a quiet and warm summer day, the water in a small lake suddenly turned green? It is said that the water "bloomed". In fact, it is the multiplied phytoplankton that “painted” the water into green color. Scoop up some of this water in a glass and examine it in the light more closely. See for yourself!

Ocean giants. Well, the biggest animals live in the oceans. Look at Figure 14, where the record-breaking animals are compared in size to humans.

Whales. The largest animal on Earth - blue whale. He is a member of the mammalian class. The largest whale caught was 33 m long and weighed almost 150 tons, which is equal to the weight of

25-30 elephants or 150 bulls! His heart weighed as much as a large horse weighs - almost 700 kg, and only one tongue - 2 tons! And the length of a newborn whale is also rather big - 8 m, and the “baby” weighs 6 tons. The whale feeds on small crustaceans - crustaceans and shrimps - zooplankton. Therefore, the whale does not pose a threat to humans. Rather the opposite. But he has great strength. There have been cases when a whale, in order to scratch its back, rubbed against the bottoms of small boats and turned them over! The whale, like all mammals, breathes atmospheric air. Therefore, before diving sometimes for tens of meters, he takes a deep breath and holds his breath for several minutes. And a newborn whale must also take its first breath, so that later it can begin its difficult life path in the ocean. There is one scientific riddle connected with whales. The fact is that whales are often washed ashore for no apparent reason and die there under the weight of their own weight. Biologists are still tormented by the question of why this happens. Previously, whales were exterminated, and there were no more than 40 thousand of them left in the oceans. Now hunting for them is limited and strictly regulated by international agreements.

Fish. In the class of fish, there are about 20 thousand species. And the largest is the whale shark, whose length is almost 20 m! It is also called the giant shark. But it also feeds on zooplankton and is not dangerous to humans. But in the oceans and seas there are about 300 various kinds the most dangerous sharks with sizes from tens of centimeters to 14 m. Sharks are one of the most ancient animals. They have excellent eyesight and sense of smell. By the way, it is believed that sharks are afraid of orange and more ... blows on the nose! Of course, you can dress in orange, but it’s better not to hit them on the nose. Therefore, we will not check the validity of this judgment - let it remain a hypothesis. A shark swimming man is noticed at a distance of 100 m. One of the most ferocious is the carchadon shark. This 12-meter predator is armed with several rows of sharp triangular teeth 5 cm long. With its teeth, it easily cuts steel ropes! No wonder fishermen find sharks in their stomachs plastic bottles, empty cans and even steel hooks! Furthermore, telegraph cables lying at great depths along the ocean floor bear hundreds and thousands of traces of shark bites. The katran shark living in the Black Sea reaches a length of one and a half meters. Its white meat is very tasty. However, most sharks are inedible. However, the specially prepared fins of some sharks are very tasty and, for example, are considered a delicacy by the Chinese. The branch of biology that studies fish is called ichthyology. In Greek, "ichthys" means fish.

Squids and octopuses. Almost 25 meters long are living in tropical seas giant squid and octopuses. They represent an ancient type of molluscs, in which there are about 80 thousand species. This also includes, for example, mollusks, which we often incorrectly call “shells”. In ancient times, squids and octopuses were credited with fantastic strength and bloodthirstiness. They were depicted on engravings as terrible monsters, carrying ships and people into the depths of the ocean! However, apart from old drawings, there is no other serious evidence of the attacks of these animals on people. Sometimes squids fight whales, but scientists still don't know why they do it.

Jellyfish. Giant polar jellyfish reaching 20-25 meters in length are representatives of the type of intestinal, in which there are about 13 thousand species. The body of giant jellyfish consists of a jelly-like translucent bell, from which huge tentacles hang down. The tentacles are poisonous and are used by jellyfish to catch small fish and zooplankton. Jellyfish, like many other marine life, are very sensitive to an approaching storm and go deep in advance.

Giants on land. Compared to the oceans on land, animals are smaller.

elephants.. The largest of them is the African bush elephant. The elephant is a mammal. Its weight reaches 5-7.5 tons, and its height is 3.5-4 m. The heart of an elephant makes only 25 beats per minute, and field mouse, for example, all 300. Despite their impressive size, elephants are good-natured, if they are not offended. They feed on tree leaves and grasses. They love to swim very much. Elephants live only in Africa and Asia. In India and some other countries, people use them to carry heavy loads. But not an elephant - the most powerful animal in the world. About who is stronger, we will tell later.e.

giraffes. Another representative of mammals, the African giraffe, is the tallest land animal. Remember! The same giraffe that the ship will notice on the horizon before us. His height reaches 6 m! Giraffe is a herbivore. Do you know that a giraffe has a half-meter tongue? He probably loves to chat!

snakes. The longest snake is the South American anaconda water boa. Its length exceeds 10 m. It represents a class of reptiles, in which there are about 4 thousand species of snakes, turtles and lizards. anaconda lives in tropical forests. And it feeds on animals that it lies in wait on the banks of reservoirs, attacks them, strangles them in its arms, and then swallows them whole. A boa constrictor, like all snakes, is an animal with a pronounced irregularity in nutrition. We now know that the processing of food requires the expenditure of energy - calories. Therefore, the feeling of after-dinner heaviness is familiar to everyone. However, the sensations that we experience cannot be compared with what the boa constrictor “experiences” after its dinner. The fact is that boas' meals are often separated by "unscheduled" fasts, lasting up to 2-3 months! But, if you really happen to eat, a boa constrictor can swallow a “dish” equal to half its own weight! When digesting such a “lunch”, the oxygen consumption of a boa constrictor increases by 17 times! To assimilate food, he mobilizes all the forces of his body and soul and spends so many calories that he can lie motionless for several days! Among poisonous snakes also has its giants. The largest of them - the king cobra-hamadryad - reaches a length of 5.5 meters! Sometimes she even attacks elephants, although without much result. By the way, snakes, like cats and some other animals, have special sense organs - a kind of "thermal locators". With their help, they perceive infrared thermal radiation and see their victims even in complete darkness!

Crocodiles. The world's largest crocodiles live at the mouths of warm tropical Australian rivers or in wetlands. Their length exceeds 10-12 m. They represent an ancient class of amphibians, in which there are about 2 thousand species of newts, frogs and other company. All of them feel equally good both in water and on land. Hence the name. In appearance, the crocodile is inactive. But when it smells prey, it becomes a fast and ferocious predator! By the way, crocodiles are very ancient animals, and their body has a rather complex structure. For example, a crocodile can spend more than an hour under water without breathing!

Birds. There are almost 2 thousand species in the class of birds. And the largest bird is the African ostrich. Its height is 2 m, weight reaches 200 kg, and an ostrich can live, if no one eats it, up to 50, ■ even up to 70 years. An ostrich does not fly, but it runs so fast that it can overtake a galloping horse! An ostrich egg is 20 times bigger than kuri-yugo and holds 1-1.5 liters of water! True, it takes at least half an hour to cook such an egg. The female ostrich brings up to 100 eggs a year. Therefore, people have long paid attention to these birds. For some time now, ostriches have been bred at home.

First they did it on farms in Africa and Australia, and now in Europe and North America. The ostrich has great strength - with a paw blow, it can not only knock down, but also kill a person. Birds study section of biology - ornithology. Ornithos is Greek for bird.

Well, who is the smallest among living organisms?

Let's meet living dwarfs. Each of the Kingdoms has its own dwarfs - single-celled organisms. Their dimensions are hundredths and thousandths of a millimeter! To imagine how small, for example, bacteria, it is enough to say that in 1 cu. cm fits 600 billion bacteria! And among those whom we can see without a microscope, there are also dwarfs. For example, duckweed, which has round leaves, grows on the surface of quiet reservoirs. The size of its leaves does not exceed 2-10 mm. Swamp dwarf frog fits on the nail of the little finger! The smallest bird, the hummingbird, lives in tropical forests. It is no bigger than a bee in size, but weighs like a small coin!


The second largest of the current existing sharks scares the Italians again.

Yesterday, April 22, in the afternoon, two vacationers on the Italian coast were “lucky” to see one of the largest sharks on the planet with their own eyes. A giant shark (Cetorhinus maximus) swam between the island of Gallinara and the city of Albenga. According to eyewitnesses, the giant "jaws" moved in the direction of the port of Loano, in Albengo. The elephant shark has already become interested in a specialized center for the study of cetaceans: its specialists are checking how much a specimen that has appeared on the coast can pose a danger to humans.

Giant elephant shark is the second largest of the sharks now preserved on Earth and is inferior in size only to the whale. This type belongs to the vanishing category. Its laterally compressed snout sometimes hangs over its mouth, like a trunk, and its laterally flattened head makes the shark look like an elephant. The mass of such a "fish" can reach 10 tons, and the length is 14 meters. Fortunately, huge individuals are extremely rare, but even small representatives of the species, from 4 to 8 meters long and weighing up to 6 tons, are not a sight for the faint of heart. The giant shark is prone to a sedentary lifestyle, its speed of movement is 3 - 5 km / h. Sometimes in places of accumulation of plankton, representatives of this species gather in small flocks. A few gaping-mouthed elephant sharks cruising the surface can strike fear into anyone. But ichthyologists reassure: giant sharks are not dangerous to humans, because they are not predators and feed exclusively on plankton. Their stomach can hold up to a ton of plankton, but their teeth do not grow more than 5 mm.

The length of the elephant shark seen yesterday on the Ligurian coast did not exceed 4 meters, that is, it had a rather miniature size. Although eyewitnesses hardly thought so. On the other hand, this is not the first time that basking sharks have appeared in Italy. And tour operators in the entertainment program, in addition to clean waters and golden beaches, just right to include the opportunity to contemplate the endangered species of basking sharks in their natural environment a habitat.

Among animals, as, indeed, among people, there are champions worthy of getting into the Guinness Book of Records. Some of them are recognized as the strongest, others - the fastest. And some can only boast of their huge weight or number of teeth. But today we are only interested in one category, which we will discuss below.

There are many terrestrial and marine life who can compete for the title heaviest animal in the world. If you ask passers-by on the street which animal is the heaviest, you can hear a variety of answers: an elephant and a buffalo, a whale and a shark, a hippopotamus and even a giraffe. But in this article, we must name the only terrestrial inhabitant whose weight and size significantly exceeds the parameters of competitors. You will find out how much an elephant and a hippopotamus weigh, and whether they can be considered the heaviest. First, let's get acquainted with some giants that live on land.

Kodiak bear

This is not the heaviest land animal, but I would like to mention it in our review. A subspecies which in many countries is under state protection. The average weight of a male exceeds 700 kilograms, and that of a female - 300 kilograms. At the same time, it must be said that cases have been recorded when the weight of the kodiak exceeded a ton.

White (polar) bear

It is the heaviest carnivore that lives on land. The biggest polar bear weighed a little over a ton and had a body length of about three meters. The height of the predator standing on its paws was 3.39 m. The average length of the body of males polar bear is about two and a half meters, the height at the withers is up to one and a half meters, and the average weight reaches eight hundred kilograms. Bears about twice fewer males, their weight does not exceed 300 kilograms. It is interesting that a hundred thousand years ago (during the Pleistocene era) a huge polar bear lived on earth, whose weight exceeded 1.2 tons, and its size was four meters in length.

Hippopotamus

This is one of the largest and heaviest animals living on Earth. The weight of large males often exceeds four tons, so the hippopotamus is a worthy competitor to the rhinoceros in the fight for second place in terms of mass among terrestrial inhabitants.

buy hippo and get better at vivo found only in Africa, south of the Sahara, although in ancient times, for example, it had a wider range. This giant lived in North Africa, and scientists believe that he lived in the Middle East. However, by early Middle Ages it was destroyed in these regions. In 2006 international union The Nature Conservancy declared the hippopotamus vulnerable.

The number of these animals at that time did not exceed one hundred and fifty thousand heads. The natives of Africa destroy hippos primarily for the sake of meat, so bloody wars and instability in many countries of the continent force starving people to look for food, thereby inflicting huge damage animal populations.

African elephant

This is the heaviest animal in the world that lives on land. From brothers living on other continents, he differs not only in body weight, but also in huge ears, which help him feel most comfortable under the rays of the scorching African sun.

The tusks of these giants are highly valued. They almost became the reason total extermination elephants. A huge number of animals were killed for expensive trophies. The situation with the disappearance of the population was saved by nature reserves and national parks.

Weight African elephants impressive: adult males weigh more than 7.5 tons, but at the same time, the heaviest land animal is very mobile, swims well and feels confident even on rocky terrain. African elephants are herbivores. They feed on young shoots of trees and shrubs, grass. An adult absorbs up to one hundred kilograms of green mass per day. Animals form small herds of 9-14 individuals. In addition to humans, elephants have no enemies in nature.

Knowing how much an elephant and a hippopotamus weigh, different ones can easily determine the leader by body weight. This, of course, African elephant, which is the heaviest land animal. It's time to get acquainted with the underwater inhabitants. Perhaps in sea ​​depths lives the heaviest animal in the world.

whale shark

This is the largest shark among its relatives. Despite the impressive size (up to twenty meters) and impressive weight (up to twenty tons), this is not the heaviest. Representatives of this species live in the southern and northern seas. Northern individuals are much larger.

This gray-brown giant, covered with white spots, the location of which is unique to each individual, lives for about seventy years. They feed by filtering out plankton and filtering the water. During the day, the shark passes 350 tons of water and eats more than two hundred kilograms of plankton. The mouth of this "fish" can accommodate up to five people, its jaws are strewn with fifteen thousand small teeth.

But these inhabitants of the depths are never the first to attack a person, and many scuba divers even touch them. Whale sharks are little studied and very slow. Their number is small, so the species is listed in the Red Book.

sperm whale - toothed whale

Another very large, but not the heaviest animal. The weight of an adult male is about seventy tons, and its body length reaches twenty meters. The body shape of the sperm whale (in the form of a drop) allows it to make long journeys in a short time (during the migration period).

Sperm whales, unlike whales, live in groups of up to 150 animals. The representative of the species has a huge rectangular head, compressed on the sides. It makes up a third of the entire body of the whale. Below is a mouth with cone-shaped teeth. In these animals, the lower jaw is mobile and can open almost 90 degrees, which helps to capture rather large prey.

Sperm whales (sperm whales) have one blowhole located in front of the head. It is slightly shifted to the left. Sperm whales feed on cephalopods and fish. But at the same time, they can attack seals, dive to the bottom for squid, crabs, sponges and mollusks, descending to a depth of more than 400 meters.

The blue whale is the heaviest animal

This is really the largest animal on our planet. The length of the body reaches thirty meters, and the mass blue whale is 180 tons and above. The females are slightly larger than the males.

It's hard to imagine, but the tongue of this sea giant weighs about 2.7 tons, which is comparable to the weight Indian elephant. The blue whale has the largest heart among mammals: it weighs 900 kilograms. To imagine its dimensions, look at the Mini Cooper car. They are comparable in size and weight.

The heaviest animal in the world has an elongated and rather slender body. On a huge head are disproportionately small eyes. The pointed muzzle has a wide lower jaw. The blue whale has a blowhole, from which, when exhaling, it releases a fountain of water, reaching a height of 10 meters. In front of the blowhole there is a well-marked longitudinal ridge - the so-called breakwater.

This giant has a dorsal fin that is strongly shifted back. Compared to its body size, it is quite small and triangular in shape. Its rear edge is covered with scratches, forming an individual pattern for each whale.

Physiological features

The sense of smell and vision of the blue whale are rather poorly developed. But the sense of touch and hearing are excellent. Representatives of this species of whales have a huge lung capacity, and the amount of blood exceeds eight thousand liters. Despite its impressive size, the blue whale has a narrow throat with a diameter of only ten centimeters. The pulse of this is 5-10 beats per minute and rarely rises to 20 beats.

The skin of the blue whale is even and smooth, except for the stripes on the belly and throat. These animals are practically not overgrown with crustaceans, which often settle on other whales in large numbers. The color of the animal is predominantly gray with a blue tint. The head and lower jaw are usually painted in a darker and more intense gray.

The oceans have become home to sharks - aggressive and voracious creatures, terrifying on many marine life and on people. Nature "provided" them with the sharpest teeth, a powerful streamlined body and a "Nordic" character. But it turns out that there are species that look at which you can’t believe that these are sharks, and their behavior is not “shark” at all ...

Carpet Shark or Bearded Wobbegong

Agree, she does not look like a shark at all. These benthic marine animals, common in warm waters, grow in length a little more than a meter, but sometimes three-meter individuals are also found. The body of the wobbegong is flat, expanding towards the head with a rather unsympathetic snout, inexpressive unblinking eyes, small teeth and skin growths resembling a beard. With them, the carpet shark "combs" the seabed, looking for food - crabs, shrimps, mollusks, echinoderms and small fish. The mottled skin allows the bearded wobbegong to be well camouflaged on the bottom, blending in with corals and algae.

Interesting fact. Almost all shark species need to move in order to breathe. And wobbegongs can breathe without moving. These are immobile animals. Consequently, they burn fewer calories, so they need little food.

Carpet sharks are not dangerous to humans, although you should not touch them or grab them by the tail - they can bite.

fox shark

Its other names are sea ​​fox" or "marine thresher". The most prominent part of this shark's body is its large tail. She needs it not at all for beauty or for the convenience of swimming, but for hunting. Seeing the fish, the fox shark begins to circle around them, waving its tail and driving the fish into a dense flock. Then the shark dives down the “fish pile”, positioning its tail up, and strikes it with force on the “potential dinner”. The speed of the tail at this moment is 80 km / h, so the fish that fell under it have no chance of escaping. Hence the name - "sea thresher". The shark is very voracious, so it quickly begins to grab a stunned fish. If its stomach is already full, and the fish killed by the tail is still on the surface of the water, the fox shark regurgitates part of the eaten fish, and begins to devour the fish still floating on the water. Here is a vivid example of boundless greed! The fox shark can also hunt live fish even jumping out of the water. This often does her a disservice, as a careless shark often manages to catch its prominent tail on fishing tackle.

Elephant shark or gigantic (giant) shark

This giant with a laterally compressed body and a head with a short trunk grows up to 10 meters in length and weighs more than 4 tons. The mouth of this shark is so large (up to three meters in diameter) that small teeth are completely invisible. It would seem that having such a mouth, you can easily eat large animals. But no. The elephant shark only eats plankton. She, slowly swimming with her mouth open, pumps into him great amount water with plankton, the water is then filtered through the gills, and the plankton swallows. Her stomach can hold up to a ton of food.

At giant shark there is another name - "basking shark", because she loves to swim on the very surface of the water, exposing her powerful body to the warm sun. The gigantic shark feeds especially actively in summer and spring, and in the cold season, when plankton becomes smaller, it either feeds on the fat reserves of the liver, or descends to great depths (up to 1 km) in search of plankton.

The liver of this shark is 1/5 of its weight, fat is considered very useful for humans, and meat with bones has been used in humans. Therefore, these giants are massively destroyed. Too bad, because they are completely harmless.

Hammerhead shark

The hammerhead shark is one of the largest sharks (from 5 to 7 meters) and one of the oldest fish on our planet (over 25 million years old). Its weight can reach 350 kg. These sharks live in warm seas.

This shark has a very unusual head with two lobes located on the sides, on which small eyes and special bodies to capture odor. The hammerhead shark is very voracious and illegible in food: it eats both large animals and its shark relatives.

"Potential food", trying to hide from this predator, burrows into the sand, but in vain. The hammerhead shark catches with its head the impulses coming from their bodies, rushes at them and literally tears the frightened quivering fish out of the sand. The hammerhead shark is also dangerous to humans.

longwing shark

This is a very aggressive and slow shark, common in warm seas. She patiently waits for some prey to fall into her field of vision. And when this happens, for example, a school of fish appears, a long-winged shark begins to greedily grab food. After eating these sharks, many half-eaten animals or fish swim on the surface of the bloody water.

She does not hesitate and human flesh. For example, in the forties of the last century near South Africa shipwrecked with a thousand passengers on board. Almost all people who fell into the water were eaten alive by long-winged sharks.

Long-winged sharks circle near sailing ships, grabbing everything that is thrown from them. In the womb of the caught sharks, bales of garbage were sometimes found.

Long-winged sharks are caught by people for their large fins, which are used as food.

cat shark

This spotted, like a cat, small shark (maximum 1m 20 cm) leads a sedentary lifestyle in warm seas, among corals. During the day, she lies motionless, hiding in corals, and at night she goes in search of food. The shark probes the bottom with its antennae and looks for small fish and crustaceans there.

Amazing fact. These interesting animals have adapted to do without water for more than ten hours. This is a feature developed over many centuries, which arose due to the fact that these sharks often leave the tide on the shore.

The cat shark is often kept in aquariums.

largemouth shark

The largemouth shark is one of the least studied marine animals and the rarest fish in the world. It was first discovered in 1976, since then people have discovered only 47 of these animals.

The weight of these five-meter giants with a large head and a meter thick-lipped mouth is one and a half tons. They feed on krill, and they do it in a very interesting way. Their mouth has a luminous surface from the inside, which attracts small animals and plankton. This is the largest luminous sea animal! Having captured a huge amount of water and "food", the giant filters the water, and pushes the food with a huge tongue down the throat. If a particularly nimble victim tries to escape from the jaws of a goblash, then they stand in her way small teeth, arranged in 23 rows of 300 pieces each!

The largemouth shark has a watery body that prevents it from drowning. But it often becomes the prey of other predators. A clumsy and very slow shark can be attacked by a flock rock perch, which sharp teeth rip pieces out of her body. It can also be swallowed whole by a sperm whale.

saw shark

The saw-nosed shark is a small fish (up to two meters) with a long outgrowth on the nose, equipped with teeth. Why is it needed? To loosen the soil with them, injure the "food" and fight with rivals. Interestingly, broken teeth can grow back. Saw-bearing sharks live in warm seas.

Glowing sharks

Glowing sharks - very aggressive fish, but one thing distinguishes them from their brethren: they do not kill the victims, but only bite off the part they like from them and swim home. Their diet includes whales, killer whales, swordfish, or even brothers, the same luminous sharks. But sometimes they also become someone's dinner. One day glowing shark found in the stomach of a large tuna.

These 50 cm sharks live in warm seas. During the day they live at great depths (sometimes up to 3 km), and at night they rise to the surface.

Goblin Shark or Goblin Shark

This ugly shark with a very strange appearance is very little studied. She has an elongated nose and ugly jaws with protruding sharp teeth, which at the right time (during the hunt) can move forward. The brownie shark weighs about 200 kg, and its length is 3.5 m. It is distributed at great depths in all oceans. She has very weak eyesight, and she doesn’t need it at such and such a depth!