In the animal world, as well as in the world of people, there are champions who are quite worthy to be in the Guinness Book of Records. Someone is recognized as the fastest, someone is the slowest, and someone can only boast of the number of teeth or the length of his body. But how could it be otherwise - after all, the length for many animals is also of great importance.

One of the most large inhabitants The oceans have always been considered the longest creatures on the planet. However, among the inhabitants of the land, things are different, since not every large animal can be considered the longest. Unlike aquatic animals, land dwellers do not have a relationship between length and size. So let's finally get acquainted with the longest land animals.

reticulated python

Reticulated python (lat. Broghammerus reticulatus) - the longest snake in the world, in addition, it is the longest animal living on land. The largest individuals can reach up to 10 meters in length!

Once the media reported about a python, whose length was 14 meters 85 centimeters - this python was discovered in the Philippines and it was listed in the Guinness Book of Records. The python got its name "" due to the complex pattern resembling a grid.

Anaconda

Anaconda (lat. Eunectes murinus) is the largest snake, which was once called the water boa.

Many of them grow up to 5-6 meters in length, but can often be found about 8-9 meters long. The officially registered representative of this species was 11.43 meters in length (but it was not possible to save this unique specimen).

Dark tiger python

Dark tiger python(lat. Python bivittatus) - a famous resident of Asia, one of the most large snakes peace. This python grows up to 5-5.5 m in length (rarely 7-8 m).

The record (registered) copy reached - 9.15 m in length. The snake that lived in the Park belonged to this species. wildlife(Illinois, USA) in 2005. Its length was 8.2 meters! It is worth noting that females of the dark tiger python are much more massive and larger than males.

Indian elephant

Indian or Asian elephant (lat. Elephas maximum) is the largest land animal after African elephant.

However, as it turned out, they surpass their African counterparts in body length, which is equal to - 5.5-6.5 m. Height Indian elephant about 2-3.5 m, and body weight - from 2 to 5 tons. Such proportions allow him to look more massive than an African elephant.

bactrian camels

Bactrian camels (lat. camelus bactrianus) is the largest representative of its family (lat. Camelidae).

With a height at the withers of 1.8-2.1 m (and sometimes even 2.3 m), they have a body length of 2.5-3.5 m. It is interesting that the height, together with humps, is 2.7 m. 7 years.

Yak

Yak (lat. Bos mutus) is a mammal from the Bovid family.

The yak is also called the Tibetan, or grunting bull (when dissatisfied, it makes grunting sounds that are not characteristic of cattle). Characteristics structure: long body (about 3.5-4.25 m - in males and 2.7-2.8 - in females), short legs, a hump in the front of the body, a low-set head with long horns bent from the middle, length which are about 95 cm.

Asian buffalo

Asian buffalo (lat. Bubalus bubalis) – big bull, which is also called the Indian buffalo.

Adult individuals can reach more than 3 meters in length, with a weight of 1000 kg to 1200 kg. The length of the horns of the Asian buffalo is about 2 meters! They live in India, Bhutan, Nepal, Thailand, Cambodia, Ceylon and Laos. Wild Asian buffaloes are particularly aggressive.

Amur tiger, Ussuri tiger

Amur or Ussuri tiger (lat. Panthera tigris altaica) is one of the smallest species, also the largest among its fellows.

body length Ussuri tiger can reach up to 3-3.8 m. The height at the withers is up to 1.15 m, and they weigh about 300 kg. The largest (officially registered) tiger of this species was 3.17 m long and 1.14 m long.

Polar bear

Polar bear (lat. Ursus maritimus ) is the largest land predator in the Arctic.

In addition, one of the longest animals on the planet. The polar bear can grow up to 2.8-3 m in length (average body length is about 2-2.5 m) with a height at the withers from 1.3 to 1.5 m. The largest ones were recorded in the Bering Sea, and the smallest - on Svalbard.

Elk

Elk, or elk (lat. Alces alces ) – large mammal from the Olenev family, which has a unique, memorable appearance. The body length of the elk is from 2.5 to 3 meters, this animal weighs 350-600 kg.

The span of its spatulate horns is 1.8 m, weight is 20-30 kg. The females are hornless. Under the throat of an elk there is a soft leathery outgrowth called an earring, and so the length of this “earring” reaches about 25-40 cm.

Length is only one of its parameters that allows you to make a description of the physical condition of the animal. However, this characteristic does not indicate big sizes. And this truth was once again confirmed by the main winners of our rating - the snakes, which took the honorable first place in this list.

This type of living organism lives in the waters. Lineus longissimus is a tapeworm and is recognized as the longest animal in the world.

The body of this animal can reach 55-60 meters in length. Interesting fact: scientists claim that such incredible size for this species is completely unnatural. The most that this worm can reach in length is no more than 30 meters.

Lineus longissimus is recognized as the record holder for its ability to grow in length at such a pace. Muscles are the main component of the entire body of these animals. Their purpose is to pump blood through the body of a living being. It is worth noting that this species does not have a heart.

The coloration of juveniles varies from light olive brown to dark brown, in adults - from reddish brown to black. This species is the longest member of the Nemerteans, typically 5 to 15 m, but can reach over 30 m despite having a body diameter of 5–10 mm.

They are voracious predators and scavengers. Their main weapon is a long proboscis, equipped with tiny poisonous hooks. With it, he hunts for small crustaceans and other worms.

During a food shortage, these tapeworms will definitely not disappear. Without harm to their health, they slowly begin to engage in self-discipline, in the truest sense of the word. When the hungry time is over, they are back in shape. Another feature of these worms is the ability to fully recover in case of various damages.

They move like other worms by muscular contractions of the body.

You can meet such a creature in Atlantic waters, off the coast of the British Isles and Norway.

The species was first formally described in 1770 as Ascaris longissima (now Lineus longissimus) by the Norwegian naturalist and bishop Johan Gunnerus. The species belongs to the genus Lineus, described in 1806 by the British naturalist James Sowerby (1757-1822) and includes about 15 species (Sowerby, 1804-1806).

Scientific classification:
Domain: Eukaryotes
Kingdom: Animals
Type: Nemertines
Class: Unarmed nemerteans
Detachment: Heteronemertea
Family: Lineidae
Genus: lineus
View: Lineus longissimus (lat. Lineus longissimus ((Gunnerus, 1770))

These animals have extraordinary qualities that make them unique in the natural world.
The longest animal

1. The longest animals are nemertean worms, the species Lineus longissimus. The length of the largest reaches 55 meters.

The smallest insect


2. The smallest insects, whose size is approximately 0.46 mm, are crumb wasps, mimarids.

The fastest animal

3. The peregrine falcon has a speed of up to 321 km per hour. She is the fastest animal.

The tallest and longest land animal


4. Of course, the tallest land animal is the giraffe. Its height can reach 6 meters.

The slowest animal


5. 48 meters per hour - a snail develops such a speed, for which it receives the title of the slowest animal.

highest flying bird


6. Oddly enough, but this title went to the mountain goose. There is evidence that these birds can fly at altitudes of 10,175 meters and higher.

The most long migration in animals


7. The longest migration of the Arctic tern. These birds cover distances of 22,400 km.

The smartest animal


8. This title belongs to a chimpanzee. A dolphin follows him.

The most prolonged pregnancy in animals


9. Asian elephants have a gestation period of 19-22 months.

The fastest aquatic mammal


10. White-winged porpoise is the fastest aquatic mammal. It develops speed up to 58 km per hour.

The oldest animal


11. Galapagos giant tortoises can live for over 175 years.

The most poisonous animal


12. One box jellyfish with 60 tentacles can kill 60 adults.

The deadliest animal

13. This title went to the female malarial mosquito. Every year, mosquitoes that carry malaria kill more than a million people worldwide.

The loudest animal


14. The sounds of blue whales reach an intensity of up to 188 decibels and can be heard at a distance of 800 km.

The strongest animal


15. A little-known copepod is the strongest animal. The copepod is said to be 10 to 30 times stronger than any machine or animal in the world.

The longest animal in the world, the nemertean tapeworm ( Lineus longissimus) which can be up to 55 meters long, produces neurotoxins that can kill both crabs and cockroaches. This has been shown in a new study by researchers at the University of Uppsala, Linnaeus University and the Swedish information center by species at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences.


The study was published in Scientific Reports on March 22. The toxins can be used, for example, in agricultural insecticides.

“This peptide toxin is the most poisonous substance found in animals living in Sweden, and the fact that it can be used makes the discovery all the more exciting. We already know that peptide toxins are found, for example, in cone shells that live in tropical waters. These tapeworms live in colder waters, such as along the coastlines of Great Britain and Norway and west coast Sweden, says Ulf Göransson, Professor of Pharmacognosy, Department of Medicinal Chemistry at Uppsala University, who led the study.

As you know, toxins often affect ion channels, that is, proteins that control the transport of various ions in and out of cells. The researchers showed that the isolated toxin interfered with the inactivation of sodium channels in three species of invertebrates: the German cockroach, the fruit fly, and the Varroa mite.
This causes a constant electrical signaling in the nerves and muscles, resulting in paralysis.

Scientists conducted laboratory tests to study how the toxin affects the sodium channels of mammals. In mammals, the reaction was not as strong. The researchers therefore believe that the toxin is probably not toxic to humans or other mammals.

Today, similar neurotoxins that have been extracted from snakes, spiders, and cone shells
for example, are used as pharmaceuticals, pharmacological instruments, biotechnology and agricultural insecticides. The researchers believe the worm's toxins could also be used to develop new insecticides.

“The peptide toxin has a very strong effect on crustaceans and cockroaches, so it can serve as a very effective insecticide.“, say the researchers.

“From a research standpoint, it was great to discover a new toxin in our own fauna, in a group of animals that had basically never been studied. Moreover, a whole chain of research can be attributed to the efforts of our team, from the discovery of a substance in flatworms to the description of the structure of the toxin and the study of its effect " says Ulf Goransson.

Dimensions

The largest mammal
Blue whale The blue whale (Balaenoptera musculus) is the largest mammal. The weight of an adult female is on average 120 tons with a body length of more than 26 m. Newborn cubs reach 6-8 m in length and weigh up to 3 tons.

largest land mammal
African elephant The male African elephant (Loxodonta africana africana) is of medium size, reaching 3-4 m at the withers and weighing 4-7 tons. The largest specimen ever recorded was a male shot at Mucusso, Angola, on November 7, 1974; its weight was 12.24 tons.

Heaviest land mammal
Polar bear In 1960, in the Chukchi Sea, east of Kotzebue, pcs. Alaska, USA, a polar bear weighing almost 900 kg was shot dead. The length of its body from nose to tail, measured along the line of the envelope contour, was 3.5 m, and the girth of the body was 1.5 m.

heaviest mammal
Blue whale Female blue whale weighing 190 tons and 27.6 m long was caught in Antarctic waters on March 20, 1947.

longest mammal
Blue whale A female blue whale, 33.58 meters long, was washed ashore in Grytviken, pc. Georgia, in the South Atlantic.

tallest mammal
Giraffe(Giraffa camelopardalis) lives in the dry and sparsely forested savannah in sub-Saharan Africa. The tallest recorded specimen was a male named George, belonging to the subspecies G. c. tippelskirchi. He was brought to the Chester Zoo, England, from Kenya on January 8, 1959. He almost rested his horns on the roof of a cage 6.1 m high when he was 9 years old.

largest toothed mammal
Sperm whale The lower jaw of a sperm whale (Physeter macrocephalus), 5 m long, exhibited in the British Museum, belonged to a male, whose body length is believed to have reached 25.6 m. The longest accurately measured sperm whale, reaching 20.7 m in length, was caught in the summer of 1950 near the Kuril Islands, in the northwestern part Pacific Ocean.

smallest mammal
Bat The smallest mammal in the world is the bat (Craseonycteris thonglongyai). The habitat of this bat is limited to 21 limestone caves on the Kwai Roi River in Kanchanaburi Avenue in southeastern Thailand. The wingspan of the animal is only 130-145 mm, and the weight barely reaches 1.7-2.0 g.

smallest flightless mammal
pygmy shrew The smallest flightless animal is the pygmy shrew (Suncus etruscus). The length of the body with the head is 35-48 mm, the length of the tail is 25-30 mm, and the weight is usually 1.5-2.5 g. Distributed on the coast mediterranean sea, as well as in the south of Kalekoy Province, South Africa.


Movement speed of mammals

The fastest land mammal
Cheetah(Acinonyx jubatus), open space dweller East Africa, Iran, Turkmenistan and Afghanistan, capable of speeds up to 100 km / h when running on flat terrain at a distance of up to 550 m.
Pronghorn(Antilocapra americana), found in the western United States, southwestern Canada, and parts of northern Mexico, is the fastest land animal when running long distances. There is evidence of pronghorns that ran a distance of 6 km at a speed of 56 km/h, 1.6 km at a speed of 67 km/h and 0.8 km at a speed of 88.5 km/h.

The fastest marine mammal
killer whale In 1958, while observing a killer whale ( Orcinus orca) in the northeast Pacific Ocean was found to be swimming at a speed of 55.5 km / h. There are reports of the same speed developed by white-winged porpoises(Phocoenoides dalli) at short distances.

The slowest mammal
three-toed sloth The three-toed sloth (Bradypus tridactylus), found in tropical zone South America, moves on the ground at an average speed of 1.8-2.4 m / min, or 0.1-0.16 km / h, but it moves faster through the trees - up to 4.6 m / min, or 0.27 km /h


Cat family

The largest cat
Tiger In a male tiger (Panthers tigris altaica), the body length from the tip of the nose to the tip of the tail is on average 3.15 m, the height at the withers is 99-107 cm, and the weight is about 265 kg.

The heaviest lion
panthera leo leo The heaviest lion ever weighed was a lion (Panthera leo leo) shot in South Africa in 1936. He weighed 313 kg.

The smallest cat
bengal cat The length of the body, together with the head, of a Bengal cat living in the southern regions of India and Sri Lanka reaches 350 - 480 mm. medium size the female weighs 1.1 kg, and the male 1.5-1.6 kg.


Primates

The largest primate
Gorilla The largest primate is a male living in the lowland forests of Eastern Congo ( former republic Zaire) gorillas (Gorilla gorilla graueri). Its weight exceeds 163 kg, and its height reaches 180 cm.

The tallest primate
Gorilla The tallest (from the crest on the head to the heels) recorded for a gorilla was a male mountain gorilla shot in the eastern part of the Belgian Congo (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo) in 1938. His height reached 1.95 m.

The heaviest primate
Gorilla The heaviest monkey that lived in captivity was a male mountain gorilla named N "gagia. His weight reached 310 kg. He died at the San Diego Zoo, California, USA, in 1944.

smallest primate
mouse lemur The smallest real primate (excluding tupai - primitive primates, in many respects similar to shrews) is a dwarf mouse lemur(Microcebus myoxinus) recently discovered in Madagascar. The length of the head and body is 62 mm, the length of the tail is 13.6 cm, and the weight is approximately 306 g.


pinnipeds

The largest pinniped
Sea Elephant The order of pinnipeds includes common seals, eared seals(sea lions and seals) and walruses. The largest representative of the southern pinnipeds sea ​​Elephant(Mirounga leonina), living in the region of the subantarctic islands. Its maximum girth is 3.7 m, and its weight is 2000-3500 kg.

The smallest pinniped
Fur seal The smallest pinniped is the Galapagos fur seal (Arctocephalus galapagoensis). Adult females reach an average length of 1.2 m, and their weight is approximately 27 kg. Males are usually larger, up to 1.5 m in length and weighing up to 64 kg.

The fastest pinniped
Sea lion Top speed when swimming was registered with a Californian sea ​​lion(Zaiophus californianus), swam by one jerk on short distance at a speed of 40 km/h.
crabeater The highest speed of movement on land was observed in the crabeater (Lobodon carcinophagus) - 25 km/h.

rodents

The largest rodent
capybara In the capybara (Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris), which lives in the northern part of South America, the body length (with the head) is 1.0-1.3 m, and the weight can reach 79 kg. However, one capybara, who lived in captivity, became obese, and her weight was as much as 113 kg.

The smallest rodents
dwarf hamster The northern dwarf hamster (Baiomystaylori), which lives in Mexico and in the states of Arizona and Texas, USA, as well as the three-toed pygmy jerboa (Salpingotulus michaelis) from Pakistan, has a head length with a body of 3.6 cm, and a tail length of 7.2 cm .