The animal and plant world is so diverse that people, even for so many years on Earth, have never ceased to be surprised. Very small representatives of the fauna live on the planet, which can only be viewed under a microscope. But there are, on the contrary, very large. And why they grow to such a size, one still has to guess.
Water element representative
The largest animal on Earth and in the ocean abyss - a blue or blue whale - has vomited. This animal is from the order of mammals and the suborder of baleen whales.
The largest individuals can reach 33 meters in length, weighing more than 200 tons. And the heart muscle of a whale can be compared with a car, and this is not less than 600 kilograms. A newborn male weighs from 2 to 3 tons, and the weight of the tongue of an adult reaches 2.7 tons. This is the largest animal on the planet that has ever been known to mankind, and which was able to measure and weigh.
Today, the vomit lives near the coasts of Russia, China, the USA, Iceland and several other countries. They prefer a solitary way of life, very rarely form pairs or gather in large groups.
These individuals feed on small mollusks and krill, which, to maintain strength, the whale has to eat about 1 ton. But the most regrettable is that this animal is listed in the international Red Book.
African savannah
The largest land animal in the world is the African elephant. The largest individuals in length reach 7.5 meters with a height of 3.5 meters. Such large elephants weigh at least 7 tons. The average life expectancy is from 60 to 70 years.
In the natural environment, adults do not have enemies, but cubs often become prey of predators, they are attacked by crocodiles, leopards and hyenas.
According to recent estimates, the population of this elephant is about 500 thousand individuals. However, even such an impressive figure allowed the African elephant to be listed in the Red Book, since man was the most terrible enemy for these animals. To this day, hunting continues for these animals with the goal of producing ivory.
The world's largest marine predator
The largest animal that is a hunter is the southern elephant seal. Its unique feature is that it has extreme sexual dimorphism. Simply put, females are much smaller than males. The largest recorded weight of the female is 900 kilograms, and the largest male weighs 4 tons. In length, females reach no more than 3.5 meters, males grow to 6.5 meters.
The elephant seal is classified as a real seal, has wrinkled skin, with hard and fine fur. The molting process in these animals is rather difficult. While the old coat comes off, the skin is covered with blisters. The whole process lasts for 1.5 months. During this period, elephants do nothing, do not eat, but simply lie on land. As soon as new skin appears throughout the body, the thinner beast immediately goes into the water.
Animals can be under water for a long time, up to 2 hours in a row. The diet mainly includes fish, shellfish and cephalopods. In the natural environment has an killer whale. Children "enjoy" the sea leopards. And the most basic enemy is the person who kills the animal in order to obtain fat. About one kilogram is collected from one individual. To date, according to approximate estimates, there are about 750 thousand individuals.
Largest land predator
The largest animal on land is the polar polar bear. In height, the beast grows to 3 meters and weighs at least 1 ton. They live in the Arctic and on the island of Spitsbergen. Some travelers claim that there are more bears on the island than there are people. They live relatively little, about 30 years. The bear eats fox, sea hare and walruses.
According to rough estimates, the population is about 28 thousand, of which about 6 thousand are in Russia. Today, hunting for them is prohibited, however, poachers "do not sleep" and kill about 200 bears a year.
Largest reptile
The largest animal assigned to the genus of reptiles is a marine or nostril crocodile. In a number of sources it is also called combed. It lives in Northern Australia and in Southeast Asia, on the east coast of India. These are quite active predator animals, eat fish, small-sized reptiles, amphibians, mollusks and crustaceans. However, it attacks any creature that violates the borders of its territory. If the attack occurs on land, the crocodile immediately drags its victim into the water.
The minimum length of the crocodile is 4.1 meters, the maximum fixed is 6 meters. Average weight - 1 ton.
Largest amphibian
The largest animal of the amphibian genus is the Chinese gigantic salamander. The largest males reach a length of 1.8 meters. It is found in mountain rivers and lakes in China. Today it is on the verge of extinction, as it can only live in clean and cool water, and such places are becoming less and less. However, man also contributed to the extinction of the species - amphibian meat is considered a delicacy.
Ancient and endangered species
What was the largest animal in the world millions of years ago? First of all, it is amphicelia. This is a herbivorous dinosaur. The length of one vertebra of the animal reached 2.5 meters. They lived on the planet about 145 million years ago.
In second place is titanoboa. It is believed that this is the closest relative of the boa constrictor. Inhabited the planet titanoboa about 58-61 million years ago. Its length was 13 meters. Note, modern pythons do not grow more than 7.5 meters.
In third place is megalodon. It was a predator that lived on Earth about 3-28 million years ago. The length of the shark could reach 20 meters, with an average weight of 47 tons. But the most interesting thing is that the strength of the bite of a marine inhabitant is equal to a pressure of 10 tons.