24.03.2013

Do you know what are the most big animals on the ground? Then you can view this top 10 and find out what big animal, although this list contains different kinds and terrestrial inhabitants and underwater and birds, etc. But all of them are huge in relation to those animals that we observe every day.

10 Giant Green Anaconda

The largest and heaviest snake in the world. Belongs to the subfamily of boas. The largest of the recorded individuals reached 11.43 m in length. Weighs about 60 kg. It has a grayish-green color with brown spots. It lives mainly in tropical zone South America. He loves water and very rarely leaves water bodies. It differs in that it can swim and dive magnificently. It feeds on rodents, young crocodiles, birds and turtles. Very rarely attacks large animals, and a person - only in case of self-defense. Strangles the victim and swallows it.

9 Southern Elephant Seal

One of the biggest animals on earth and large view seal in the world. The largest recorded specimens reached 6.5 m and 3.5 tons. But its trunk is shorter than that of its relatives - only 10 cm. The total number is about 750 thousand individuals. The colonies of the southern elephant seal are located on the subantarctic archipelagos and islands: South Georgia, Kerguelen, Hurd, Macquarie.

8. African ostrich


The most big bird in the world. Its height reaches 250 cm, weight up to 150 kg. It cannot fly, but it runs at speeds up to 70 km / h, taking steps of 3.5-4 m. If necessary, it can abruptly change direction without changing speed. Contrary to popular belief, he does not hide his head in the sand, but he can “drop” it to the ground from fatigue after a long run.

7. Saltwater crocodile

Saltwater crocodile- is the largest of the crocodiles. Body length up to 7 m in males, up to 3 m in females. Adult males can gain weight up to 1000 kg. Most often found on the shores of Australia, Papua New Guinea and Indonesia. But it also makes its way to other popular resorts. Able to make long voyages on the high seas. It is extremely dangerous on the coast or shallow water, where it is easy for him to sneak up on prey. Every year many people become its victims.

6. Polar bear

Other names: polar, northern, sea bear, oshkuy. It can reach 3 m in length and 1000 kg of body weight. The largest representatives are found in the Bering Sea. It differs from other bears in its flat head and long neck. Hunts for seals, bearded seals, walruses, fish. A very thick layer of subcutaneous fat and thick fur help it survive in cold and icy water.

5. Giraffe

The tallest animal It lives in the savannas of Africa. Height up to 6 m, body weight up to 1200 kg. Despite the unusually long neck, like other mammals, it has only seven cervical vertebrae. But he has a very strong heart, capable of passing 60 liters of blood per minute and creating pressure three times greater than that of a person. Daily consumes about 30 kg of plant foods. The color of a giraffe is as unique as human fingerprints.

4 White Rhino

Second in size big animal land after the elephant. Body length up to 4.2 m, weight up to 5 tons, shoulder height up to 2 m. Actually, it is not white at all, but dark gray. The name most likely comes from a distorted Boer word wijde (wide, wide-faced), consonant with English white (white). It has two horns, which it successfully uses in fights with rivals. Lives in South and Northwest Africa. It feeds on herbaceous plants.

3. Hippo

Belongs to the order of artiodactyls, the suborder of swine. Distributed on the African continent. Weight can reach 4 tons, length up to 5.4 m. Leads a predominantly semi-aquatic lifestyle. The mouth of a hippopotamus can open unusually wide - 150 degrees. Interestingly, the hippopotamus is able to run very fast on land. Pretty aggressive animal. When provoked by a person, he is able to attack unexpectedly.

2. African elephant

Mammal of the proboscis order. Height at the shoulders up to 4 m, weight - 7.5 tons. Habitat - Africa south of the Sahara. Includes two modern look- bush elephant and forest elephant. More than their Indian relatives and the most big animal among the land. Only 500-600 thousand of these giants remained in nature. An unusually intelligent animal, capable of mutual assistance and mutual assistance. For example, if one elephant cannot get rid of a sucking leech, another can take a stick and free a friend from a bloodsucker. The same applies to .

1. Blue whale

Our world is truly amazing. It is full of beings big and small, low and high. Today we offer you an extraordinary interesting selection. It contains photographs of the fifteen largest animals in the world, broken down into different categories such as mammals, reptiles, birds, amphibians, etc. Some of these animals are real giants!

1. The largest animal in the world is the blue (or blue) whale.
The blue whale, also called the blue whale or vomit (Balaenoptera musculus), is marine mammals, which belongs to the order of cetaceans to the suborder of baleen whales. At 30 meters (98 ft) long and 180 metric tons or more in weight, it is the largest of the known to science animals that have ever lived on our planet. Language blue whale can reach a weight of about 2.7 tons (5952 pounds), which is approximately equal in weight to the average size of an Asian elephant. Heart blue whale weighs about 600 kilograms (1,300 pounds) and is the largest such organ of any living being. The heart of a blue whale is not only the size of a small car, but it also weighs about the same as the mentioned car. And the lung capacity of a blue whale exceeds 3,000 liters.

2. The blue whale is thought to feed almost exclusively on small shrimp-like creatures known as krill.

3. The basis of the diet of the blue whale is plankton. Thanks to its filtering apparatus, which consists of whalebone plates, for summer months a blue whale can ingest a whopping 3.6 metric tons (7,900 pounds) or more daily.

4. This means that it can eat up to 40 million krill per day, while the daily calorie requirement of an adult blue whale is in the region of 1.5 million. kcal.

6. The largest land animal in the world: African elephant. The African elephant is the largest land animal. Male African elephants are 6 to 7.5 meters (19.7 to 24.6 ft) long, 3.3 m (10.8 ft) tall at the withers, and can weigh up to 6 tons (13,000 lb). Female African elephants are much smaller, averaging 5.4 to 6.9 m (17.7 to 22.6 ft) long, 2.7 meters (8.9 ft) high at the withers, and weighing up to reach 3 tons (6600 pounds). Adult African elephants generally have no enemies in their natural environment habitats due to their extremely large size, but baby elephants (especially newborns) are one of the favorite prey species for bloodthirsty attacks by lions or crocodiles, and are also often attacked by leopards or hyenas. According to the latest data, in wild nature The population of African elephants is from 500 to 600 thousand individuals.

7. The tallest land animal in the world: the giraffe.

The giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis) is an African mammal from the order artiodactyl families giraffe. It is the tallest land animal in the world. its height averages 5–6 meters (16–20 ft). Male giraffes have an average weight of 1,600 kilograms (3,500 lb), while females can weigh around 830 kilograms (1,800 lb). Distinctive characteristic giraffe is a very long neck that can reach over 2 meters (6 feet 7 inches) in length. Actually, the neck accounts for almost half of the vertical height of the animal. The long neck is the result of a disproportionate lengthening of the cervical vertebrae, not an increase in the number of vertebrae, of which the giraffe, like almost all other mammals, has only seven.

8. largest predator in the world: Southern sea ​​Elephant.
The southern elephant seal is the largest carnivore on our planet. The size of the southern elephant seal is evidence of extreme sexual dimorphism, the most significant of any mammal, as male southern elephant seals are typically five to six times heavier than females. While females can average 400 to 900 kilograms (880 to 2,000 lb) and be 2.6 to 3 meters (8.5 to 9.8 ft) long, southern elephant seal males average approximately 2,200 to 4,000 kg (4,900 to 8,800 lb) and can reach 4.5 to 5.8 meters (15 to 19 ft) in length. Absolute record holder among the southern sea ​​elephants, shot at Possession Bay, South Georgia on February 28, 1913, measured 6.85 meters (22.5 feet) in length and is estimated to have weighed approximately 5,000 kilograms (11,000 pounds).
Southern marines can dive multiple times while hunting, staying submerged for more than twenty minutes each time, tracking their prey, squid and fish, at depths of 400 to 1,000 meters (1,300 to 3,300 ft). The documented record for the longest time underwater for a juvenile elephant seal was approximately two hours. The maximum depth to which southern elephant seals can dive is over 1,400 meters (4,600 ft).

9. The largest land predator in the world: Polar bear and Kodiak bear.

The world's largest terrestrial predators are the white polar bear (Ursus maritimus) and the Kodiak brown bear ( Ursus Arctos). If everything is more or less clear with the white polar bear, then the Kodiak bear is less known.

10. Kodiak is a subspecies of brown bears that are found on Kodiak Island and other islands of the Kodiak archipelago off the southern coast of Alaska. Since the polar white bear and the Kodiak brown bear have approximately the same body size, it is not clear which of them actually ranks first in size. In both species, the height at the withers is over 1.6 meters (5.2 ft), and the total body length can reach 3.05 m (10.0 ft). Absolute weight record for polar and brown bear amounted to 1003 kg (2210 pounds) and 1135 kg (2500 pounds) respectively.

11. The largest reptile in the world: Saltwater (combed or spongy) crocodile.
The saltwater crocodile (Crocodylus porosus) is the largest crocodile in the world. this moment reptiles. The habitat of combed crocodiles is the range from Northern Australia to South-East Asia and east coast India. An adult male saltwater crocodile can weigh between 409 and 1,000 kilograms (900–2,200 lb) and is typically 4.1 to 5.5 meters (13–18 ft) long. However, males can exceed 6 meters (20 ft) in length and sometimes weigh over 1,000 kg (2,200 lb). Saltwater crocodile is the only crocodile species that regularly reaches a length of 4.8 m (16 ft) and even exceeds this mark. The saltwater crocodile is an active predator that feeds mainly on insects, mollusks, amphibians, crustaceans, small reptiles and fish. However, it attacks almost any animal that is in its territory, either in water or on land. The crocodile always drags the victim, which he watches over on land, into the water, where it is more difficult for her to resist him.

12. The largest amphibian in the world: the Chinese giant salamander.
The Chinese giant salamander (Andrias davidianus) is the largest salamander in the world. Individual individuals of the Chinese giant salamander can reach a length of 180 centimeters (6 feet), although at present such giants are extremely rare. This species is endemic mountain rivers and lakes in China. One of the conditions necessary for the survival of the Chinese giant salamander is clean and very cold water.

13. To date, this species is considered endangered due to habitat destruction, pollution environment and targeted destruction, as giant amphibian meat is considered a delicacy and is used in traditional Chinese medicine.

14. Largest rabbit / hare in the world: "Belgian flandre". The Belgian Flemish is an ancient breed of domesticated rabbit that originates from the Flemish region.

15. They were first bred back in the sixteenth century in the vicinity of the city of Ghent, Belgium. Belgian Flemish rabbits can weigh up to 12.7 kilograms (28 pounds).

16. The largest bat in the world: giant golden flying fox. In the photo: a giant golden flying fox. Spectacled flying fox.

The largest of all bat species is the giant golden flying fox (Acerodon jubatus), an endangered species bats from rainforest Philippines, which is part of the fruit bat family. The basis of the diet of giant golden flying foxes is fruits. The maximum weight of giant golden flying foxes can be 1.5 kg (3.3 lb), they can be up to 55 centimeters (22 in) long, and their wingspan can be nearly 1.8 meters (5.9 ft). The giant flying fox (Pteropus vampyrus) is inferior to the golden flying fox in terms of body weight and length, but is ahead of it in wingspan. Scientists have recorded individuals with a wingspan ranging from 1.83 meters (6.0 feet) to 2 meters (6.6 feet).

17. The largest rodent in the world: capybara.
The largest of the existing rodents is the capybara (Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris), a species that is found along the shores of various reservoirs in tropical and temperate parts of Central and South America, east of the Andes - from Panama to Uruguay to northeast Argentina. One of the main conditions for the existence of capybaras is the presence of a nearby reservoir.

18. The largest specimens of capybaras can reach 1.5 meters (4.9 feet) in length and 0.9 meters (3.0 feet) in height at the withers. They can weigh up to 105.4 kg (232 lb). This is very active view. Capybaras are social animals that live in groups of up to a hundred individuals, but the average number of one colony is 10-20 individuals on average.

19. Largest Bone Fish in the World: common moonfish(fish-sun, fish-head).

Osteichthyes, also called "bony fish", are a taxonomic group of fish that have bony, not cartilaginous, skeletons. The vast majority of fish belong to the species Osteichthyes. This is an extremely diverse and numerous group, which consists of more than 29,000 species. This is the most numerous class of vertebrates that currently exists.

20. The largest representative bony fish is the widespread common moonfish (sunfish, fishhead) or Mola Mola. She has an extremely strange body shape - it is laterally compressed, very high and short, which gives the fish an outlandish appearance and a shape similar to a disk. In fact, it does not have a body as such - a sunfish is literally a "head with a tail." A mature Common Fishhead has an average length of 1.8 meters (5.9 ft), a width from fin to fin of up to 2.5 meters (8.2 ft), and an average weight of 1,000 kilograms (2,200 lb). However, scientists have recorded individuals that can be up to 3.3 meters (10.8 feet) long and 4.2 meters (14 feet) across. The weight of such giants can reach 2,300 kilograms (5,100 pounds).

21. largest lizard/ snake in the world: giant green anaconda.

The giant anaconda, sometimes also called the green anaconda (Eunectes murinus), is a species of snake in the boa subfamily. It lives in the tropical part of South America east of the Andes, Paraguay, Northern Bolivia, French Guiana. The maximum recorded body length is 7.5 meters (25 feet), and the maximum recorded weight reaches 250 kilograms (550 pounds), although there are rumors of much larger green anacondas. reticulated python(Python reticulatus) from Southeast Asia is longer in body length but thinner, and members of this species are reported to reach a maximum of 9.7 meters (32 ft) in length.

22. The world's largest bird: ostrich.

The ostrich, the largest bird on our planet (Struthio camelus), is found on the plains of Africa and Arabia. The scientific name of the ostrich in Greek means "camel sparrow". A large male ostrich can reach a height of 2.8 meters (9.2 feet), and weigh over 156 kilograms (345 pounds). Ostrich eggs can weigh up to 1.4 kilograms (3 pounds) and are the largest bird eggs in modern world. Ostriches can develop top speed up to 97.5 km/h (60.6 mph), making the ostrich the fastest bird on earth and the fastest bipedal creature in the world.

The Dalmatian Pelican (Pelecanus crispus) is a member of the Pelican family. The habitat of curly pelicans is a significant area from Southeast Europe to India and China. Dalmatian pelicans inhabit swamps and shallow lakes. It is the largest of the pelicans, averaging 160-180 centimeters (63-70 inches) in length, and weighing 11-15 kilograms (24-33 pounds). The wingspan of the curly pelican is just over 3 meters (10 ft). An average weight of 11.5 kilograms (25 lb) makes the Dalmatian Pelican the heaviest flying bird. Although a large male bustard or swan may exceed the pelican in maximum weight.

24. The largest arthropod in the world: Japanese spider crab.

The Japanese spider crab is a type of sea crab that lives in the waters off the coast of Japan. In the span of the first pair of legs, it reaches 3.8 meters (12 feet), and can weigh up to 41 pounds (19 kilograms).

26. In its natural habitat, japanese spider crab It feeds on shellfish and animal carcasses and can live up to 100 years.

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 largest 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 body length of male polar bears 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 year 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.

The weight of African elephants is 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 is, of course, the 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 short time(during the migration period) long journeys.

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 of the blue whale is 180 tons and more. 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 huge number. 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.

Which animal is the heaviest and which is the lightest in the world? and got the best answer

Answer from Alexei[expert]
whale and hummingbird


Answer from Des Y[guru]
the heaviest - the whale the lightest - probably the ant


Answer from Yeever[guru]
The heaviest is man, he is also the lightest.


Answer from Ђ@nyushka[guru]
The smallest of the American shrews - the pygmy shrew - weighs only about 2-3 grams. But it turns out that she is not the smallest of the mammals. Lighter than her tiny shrew - from 1.6 to 2.9 grams. There are among the shrews and weighing only 1.2 grams! Animals with a two-gram weight are also found among birds. For example, some representatives of the hummingbird family weigh 1.6-1.8 grams. How much does an elephant weigh? An old male African elephant can pull 7.5 tons! Smaller, but also solid males of the Indian elephant up to 5 tons. However, the elephant is not the largest representative of mammals. Some specimens of bowhead whales weigh up to 150 tons, that is, as much as 20 elephants.


Answer from Anna Storchilo[expert]
The biggest is the blue whale and the smallest is the mosquito


Answer from Anton Grokhotov[guru]
The largest animal on Earth is the Blue Whale. Its length is at least 33 meters, and the weight reaches 190 tons. The smallest animal is the shrew. Its length is only 1.5 cm and the weight reaches 1.5 grams.

Let's take a look at the giants that still roam the Earth.

15. Giant flying fox ≈ 1.5 kg

The largest bat on earth. These the bats in the Philippines. The body size of a fox is about 55 cm, weight is 1.5 kg, but the wingspan is very solid - up to 1.8 meters.

14. Belgian flandre giant - up to 25 kg

A domesticated form of a hare (rabbit). The main selection was carried out in the meat-skin direction, which left an imprint on its size. This is the largest breed of rabbits. Their average weight is 10-12 kg, the maximum recorded is 25 kg.

13. Chinese giant salamander ≈ 70 kg

The largest amphibian on earth. The length of the salamander reaches 180 cm. These amazing creatures live in China, where their meat is revered as a delicacy, so few salamanders grow to their maximum size.

12. Capybara ≈ 105 kg

The largest rodent on earth. These cute animals live in South America. Adult capybaras grow up to 1.5 meters in length, and in weight they can gain up to 105 kg. By the way, these rodents are happy to live next to a person.

11. Giant green anaconda ≈ 250 kg

This close relative of the python, on Earth. It lives in the tropics of South America. The maximum recorded body length is more than 7.5 meters, and the weight is 250 kilograms. The Asian python surpasses the anaconda in length, which is 9.7 meters, but loses in weight.

10. Polar bear ≈ 500 kg

To find the largest bear in the world you need to go to the Arctic. There, among the snow and ice, majestic polar bears live - a living embodiment of the formidable forces of nature.

The Inuit call polar bears "nanook", which means "respected".

At birth, a newborn polar bear cub weighs only 700 grams. And the milk that he eats is superior in fat content to the milk of other types of bears. Two months after birth, the bear cub weighs 10 kg.

Until a year and a half, a caring mother accompanies him everywhere. And at the age of two, when many human children still have difficulty walking and soiling diapers, a young polar bear is already gaining its normal weight and is capable of picking up a bearded seal, a ringed seal, or even a person if he is not careful enough.

Even for the world's largest bear, finding food can be a challenge. Less than two percent hunting polar bear successful, so half of their lives are spent in search of food.

9. Salted crocodile ≈ 590 kg

Most of the largest animals are not peaceful in nature. But even among them, combed crocodiles stand out for their aggressiveness and bloodthirstiness. even got into the Guinness Book of Records for the fact that, together with relatives, he ate a thousand Japanese soldiers during World War II.

But it is unlikely that combed crocodiles can be counted among the allies, because they would have just as much enjoyed eating Russian, American and any other soldiers.

8. Giraffe ≈ 800 kg

Among the largest animals in the world, giraffes immediately stand out with their long necks. Thanks to her, they are the tallest land creatures on the planet. The neck is 1/3 the length of the animal's body and, at the same time, consists of only seven cervical vertebrae, like in most other mammals.

About giraffes, you can safely say that they have a big heart. It weighs 12 kilograms, and creates pressure that would terrify any hypertensive patient. What the body will not do so that the blood can reach the brain.

Giraffes are also famous for their long tongue. Only they need him not for gossip, but in order to eat leaves from the very tall trees in African savannah. In length, this organ reaches as much as 45 centimeters.

7. Hippo ≈ up to 4.5 tons

Sub-Saharan Africa is home to the third largest land animal in the world. But hippos don't really like to walk on the ground. They are semi-aquatic mammals, meaning they spend most of their day in rivers and lakes. This is how they keep their hairless body moisturized under the scorching African sun. If the hippopotamus does not have the opportunity to plunge into cool water, its skin cracks.

Female hippos began to give birth underwater long before it was fashion trend in human world. By the way, hippos are one of the few mammals whose cubs can suck their mother's milk while underwater.

In most European languages, the hippopotamus is called the "hippo." This word came from the Latin language (and there, in turn, from Greek) and in translation means “river horse”. Of course, this massive creature cannot be compared with, but in the water it is very fast and agile.

6. Southern elephant seal ≈ 2.2 tons

Among the largest animals of our planet, there are two elephants at once, and one of them is terrestrial, and the second is marine.

This seal got its name for a leather bag on its nose, which, during anxiety or during mating fights, swells up, turning into a large ball.

5. White rhino ≈ 2.3 tons

The old joke about the rhinoceros says that he has poor eyesight, but with such large sizes it's not his problem anymore. Indeed, these giants do not particularly rely on sight. And even hearing plays a secondary role. But the sense of smell in white rhinos is very well developed. So don't approach it from the windward side.

By the way, unlike their small counterparts, black rhinos, whites usually run away when they see a person. But Black is attacking.

Due to the uncontrolled extermination of white rhinos, the northern subspecies has disappeared. This happened quite recently, in 2018, when the last male named Sudan died. So now we can only admire the photo of these largest animals in the world.

But the southern population still exists. But the question is: for how long?

4. African bush elephant ≈ 7 tons

Before you is a seven-ton answer to the question of what is the largest animal among terrestrial creatures. Due to its size and body weight, the elephant entered the Guinness Book of Records as the largest land mammal. Among the savannah elephants there are also their own heavyweights. So, in Angola in 1974, an elephant weighing 12.2 tons was shot dead.

Like smaller brethren, African elephants can use their trunks (which have over 40,000 muscles) to lift anything up to 180 kg. Unfortunately, the largest land animal does not boast the largest population. 25,000 elephants die each year due to poaching.

3. Great whale shark ≈ 20 tons

It seems strange that - this is not the most terrible representative of the shark species. She doesn't even hunt whales, contrary to her name. Unlike most of its predatory counterparts, the great whale shark is content with plankton for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Floats this one sea ​​giant not very fast, and almost does not pay attention to people passing by. This allows divers to ride on the back of a whale shark if they wish.

In videos of the world's largest animals, you can often see people swimming with whale sharks.

2. Sperm whale ≈ 40 tons

One of better ways to recognize a sperm whale in the ocean - by its massive head. Sperm whales have the largest brain of all living creatures on Earth, it weighs up to 7.8 kg.

However, the fact that their heads are filled with spermaceti makes the biology of these creatures so fascinating. It is the spermaceti sac that accounts for 90% of the weight of the sperm whale's head.

Scientists suggest that it is spermaceti that helps these huge toothed whales dive and emerge from the depths. There must be something that keeps all 40 tons of sperm whale afloat!

1. Blue whale ≈ 150 tons

The largest animal on Earth is a majestic, carnivorous sea ​​creature, which weighs a whopping 150 tons and reaches a length of 33 meters. And this is still on average, since the whalers met both 180-ton and even 190-ton whales.

The heart of a blue whale is one and a half meters in size, weighs about 180 kilograms, and its aorta is wide enough for a baby to swim through it.

However, despite their gigantic size, blue whales are not dangerous to humans. They do not attack swimmers and feed on krill, small crustaceans, cephalopods and fish.

But a man for a blue whale is the most dangerous opponent. Due to active whaling and severe pollution of the seas, the largest animal in the world almost disappeared. In 1693, only 5 thousand individuals remained. And although now the population of the blue whale has grown to 10 thousand individuals, it is still on the verge of extinction.