Biggest Animal in the World

It is always interesting to discuss extreme sized living organisms, be it the smallest flower Wolffia or the largest flower Rafflesia. The same is with smallest animal species and biggest one of the world. Behind these profound size differences, there are hidden adaptation strategies. For example; small animals have the advantage of hiding and escaping from their prospective predators; whereas the larger ones scare prey with their enormous size. More information on world's biggest animal coming in the next paragraphs.

Which is the Biggest Animal in the World?

Needless to say, animals comprise living organisms that have the ability to move or locomote on their own, from one place to another. In simpler terms, they are borne with features for voluntary movement. Another character of animals is their heterotrophic nature, meaning depending on others for their nourishment. They are classified into different groups, out of which the most familiar ones are insects, birds, reptiles, amphibians and mammals. You can find largest species for each of these groups. And when we say the largest animal in the world, it refers to the one that weighs the most and looks enormous in size, irrespective of the animal taxonomy.

The blue whale (scientific name, Balaenoptera musculus) is known to be the biggest living animal in the world. In spite of its habitat (sea), blue whale is a mammal. It gives birth to young ones and suckled them. Lengthwise from head to tail, an adult blue whale measures anywhere between 23 meter (75 feet) to 30.5 meter (100 feet) and weighs approximately 136 metric tons (150 tons). The astonishing weight of blue whale is equivalent to the collective weight of 1,500 men or 24 elephants. Its heart is as big as a car (more than 1 meter). It is said that more than 50 people can stand on the blue whale's tongue. Besides magnificent size, the blue whale also earns the title of the loudest animal on earth. Know more on .

When it comes to biggest land animal in the world, the African bush elephant (scientific name, Loxodonta africana) fits the honor. An adult male grows to about 13 feet in height and 20 feet long. It is also the second tallest land animal. The weight of a full-grown African elephant is approximately 7-8 tons, which equals the weight of 165 adult men. Do not confuse it with other elephants because the African species is bigger than Asian elephants. When compared to blue whales, the size of an elephant is more or less similar to a baby blue whale, measuring about 20 feet in length.

Speaking more about world's biggest animals, whale shark is the biggest fish species (length: 13.6 meter, weight: 24 tons). The largest reptile is saltwater crocodile (length: 5 meter, weight: 2.1 ton); whereas ostrich is the biggest bird (height: 2.1 meter, weight: 156 kilogram). Amphibians are usually small and the largest known species is Chinese giant salamander (length: 1.83 meter, weight: 64 kilogram). Last but not the least, the biggest carnivorous animal in the world is polar bear (height: 3 meter, weight: 1 ton).

Most people keep wondering about the strategy of dinosaurs in terms of size. The largest land dinosaurs weigh about 90 tons, which is more than half the weight of blue whales. Thus, it is concluded that blue whales are by far the biggest animal in the world. There was one time, when the population of this magnificent mammals was 200,000. With increased hunting, the number of blue whales has declined to just 10,000 (at present). And the most regretting part is its inclusion in the endangered list of animals.