The animal kingdom is full of relative giants, from bugs larger than your
cellphone to jellyfish that can sting you from almost 100 feet away, but none
are as awesome as the true giants of land and sea. Of the five biggest animals
on earth, all are mammals, four are herbivores, one is marine and all are truly
imposing to behold.
Great Whales
The majority of great whales are of the baleen variety, meaning they don't
have teeth but use a grill-like mechanism (the baleen) to filter food. The only
great whale to have teeth is the sperm whale. The 200-ton blue whale is the
largest baleen whale, followed by the 80-ton right whale, 75-ton fin whale,
60-ton bowhead whale and 45-ton sperm whale. In fact, the nine heaviest animals
in the world are members of the great whale family. Not only is the blue whale
the largest animal on the planet, it’s also believed to be the largest creature
to have ever lived on Earth, bigger even than the T-rex and diplodocus. Even
blue whale babies are huge, weighing 3 tons at birth and gaining 200 pounds
every day for the first year of their lives.
Elephants
Elephants, specifically African bush elephants, are the second largest
animals in the world and the largest on land. The biggest elephant ever
recorded weighed 10 tons and stood 4 meters at the shoulder. That’s pretty big,
but only 5 percent of the weight of a blue whale and still dwarfed by the
Bryde's whale -- the ninth largest baleen variety. African elephant babies are
big too and it takes 23 months for mom to carry one from conception to birth.
Hippopotamus
A baby hippo weighs around 1,000 pounds—that’s half a ton, or as much as a
pickup truck—and a fully grown hippo can weigh up to 4 tons. The name
hippopotamus translates to “river horse,” and these beasts live up to their
name, spending up to 18 hours a day submerged or semi-submerged. Their eyes and
ears are positioned high on their heads, which, combined with their height of
up to 14 feet, means they can often stand in the deep part of a river and still
breathe.
Rhinoceros
Five rhinoceros species exist: two in Africa and three in Asia. The African
white rhino is the largest, weighing up to 2.5 tons when fully grown. Despite
the name, the white rhino is a dark gray color. It is believed that the term
“white” is a corruption of the original Boer description of this enormous
beast, which they called the “wijde,” Dutch for “wide"—a description of
the creature's mouth.
Polar Bear
The polar
bear is the largest carnivore in the world. Unlike with the elephant, rhino and
hippo, much of its bulk is in the form of fat, which it needs to withstand the
intense cold of its natural habitat. Despite their size and weight—adults weigh
up to 1,500 pounds—polar bears are excellent swimmers and have been observed as
far as 60 miles from the shore.