TOP 18 LARGEST ANIMALS IN THE WORLD BY SPECIES

Are you looking for the largest animals in the world ? Then you've come to the right place!

When we look at the largest animals ?, we can come across the heaviest, the longest, the biggest or even the tallest land animals like the giraffe.

Today we are going to see the list and description of the largest animals of their kind by height and weight for some categories of the animal kingdom . These categories include mammals, birds, land animals, fish and others and offer a global overview of the living beings that dominate the others of their kind.

It is in this spirit that we present below our list of the largest animals in the world:

1) The Largest Animal on the Planet: Blue Whale

What is the largest animal in the world? The blue whale ?  (Balaenoptera Musculus).

In terms of absolute size, the blue whale is not only the largest living animal , but also the largest animal that has ever existed - reaching a length of around 30 metres, and a weight of around 180 tonnes. A blue whale's heart alone can weigh as much as a car, and its tongue as much as an elephant. Newborn blue whales weigh around 3 tonnes, and the largest blue whale ever recorded reached an astonishing 190 tonnes!

2) Largest Land Animal by Weight: African Bush Elephant

The largest animal on earth is the  African bush elephant (Loxodonta Africana, one of two species of African elephant, along with the African forest elephant), which can reach 4.5 metres (15 ft) high at the shoulder, 6 metres (20 ft) long and weigh up to 6,000 kg (13,300 lb) . These enormous beasts are currently classified as vulnerable on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, and are among the animals threatened with extinction in Africa.

3) Largest Land Animal by Size: Giraffe

At 6 meters tall , the giraffe ? (Giraffa) is the largest land animal, if we measure its size. Their neck alone can reach almost 2 meters long, and their tongue half a meter long! Giraffe babies have a gestation period of 15 months, and when they are born (unusually for a mammal, they come out feet first), they are already 2 meters tall.

4) The Largest Birds in the World

A- Wandering Albatross

With a wingspan of 3.7 meters , the wandering albatross  (Diomedea Exulans)  is the largest living bird on Earth when measured by wingspan.

Its immense wingspan allows it to glide long distances without having to flap its wings, which helps define its lifestyle as a bird that spends most of its life in flight, landing only to breed and feed.

B- Common Ostrich

The common ostrich  (Struthio camelus)  is the largest bird in the world ?, with an average height of over 2 meters (sometimes up to 2.7 meters ) and a weight of up to 160 kg . At this size, the ostrich is, of course, a flightless bird, but it can outrun many other fast animals thanks to its maximum speed of 69 kilometers per hour. Its long and powerful legs also serve as defensive weapons, delivering a powerful kick to potential predators.

Fun fact about ostriches: They are able to survive without water for days, by producing water internally and extracting water from vegetation.

5) The Largest Land Carnivore: the Polar Bear

The title of largest land carnivore in the world is a close contest between the Kodiak bear (or  Alaskan brown bear ) and the polar bear  (Ursus maritimus), and in truth, it is very difficult to choose the winner as they are so similar in size... but we have chosen the polar bear.

Adult males weigh an average of 700 kg and stand about 3 metres tall when standing on their hind legs. Polar bears are born on land but spend most of their lives on the sea ice, hunting seals on the ice and in the icy waters of the Arctic. Due to habitat erosion, the polar bear is one of the most endangered animals on this list.

6) The Biggest Reptiles in the World

A- Saltwater Crocodile

The largest living reptile - and probably the scariest - is the saltwater crocodile ?  (Crocodylus Porosus). This prehistoric monster can reach over 7 meters long and weigh up to half a ton. Its population is distributed around salt and brackish waters in parts of Asia, Australia and India.

Due to their size (and teeth!), saltwater crocodiles are apex predators , capable of taking on water buffalo, sharks, and almost anything else that comes within striking distance. The saltwater crocodile, one of the most dangerous animals in the world, is similar to its freshwater cousin in the way it ambushes and drowns its prey, though it often swallows it whole rather than tearing it off in chunks.

B- Lizard: Komodo Dragon

The Komodo dragon 's name alone is an indicator of the lizard's power and physical characteristics: It is dark and scaly, extremely strong, and uses a long, thin forked tongue to test the air for signs of nearby prey.

Male Komodo dragons (Varanus Komodoensis) grow up to 3 meters long and weigh about 90 kg . Females are a bit smaller and grow up to 1.8 m long. Found in the Indonesian islands, this fast predator can both eat 80% of its body weight in a single meal ? and empty its stomach at will in order to reduce its weight and flee from danger more quickly. It hunts large prey such as water buffalo, deer, pigs and even humans, so keep your distance!

C- The Longest Snake in the World: Reticulated Python

Of all snake species, the reticulated python (Malayopython Reticulatus) is the longest recorded snake. A Malaysian specimen captured on a construction site in 2016 measured 8 meters long .

These non-venomous, constricting snakes (they kill their prey by squeezing it) are found throughout South and Southeast Asia, in tropical forests, woodlands and grasslands. Their diet consists mainly of small and medium-sized mammals, but they have been known to eat and swallow animals larger than humans such as crocodiles!

D- The World's Largest Snake by Weight: Green Anaconda

The green anaconda ? (Eunectes Murinus) can grow up to 7 meters long and, with its 30 cm diameter, can weigh up to 250 kg . While a slow animal on land, these giant snakes are built for water, and are found in the swamps, marshes and streams of South America.

With its eyes and nose on top of its head, the anaconda can lie almost entirely underwater to wait for its prey, and due to its size, it can easily take on wild pigs , deer, and even jaguars.

7) Largest Primate: Eastern Gorilla

The eastern gorilla (Gorilla beringei) is the largest primate, reaching up to 1.9 m (6 ft 3 in) in length and weighing around 200 kg (440 lbs) . These gorillas live in the mountainous forests of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda and Uganda, according to the IUCN. There are fewer than 5,000 eastern gorillas left in the wild, putting them in serious danger.

8) Marsupial: Red Kangaroo

The red kangaroo ? (Macropus Rufus) is the largest living marsupial in the world. They can weigh around 90 kg and have a lifespan of up to 23 years; their powerful legs allow them to move at speeds of 56 km/h and jump 2 metres high.  Despite their large adult size, the red kangaroo is smaller than a cherry at birth and spends an additional two months in their mother's pouch before branching out into the deserts and grasslands of Australia.

However, the red kangaroo is not the largest kangaroo on record. That honour goes to the giant short-faced kangaroo (Procoptodon goliah), which was more than twice as large at 240kg. That animal went extinct about 15,000 years ago, according to the Australian Museum.

The largest recorded marsupial is the four-legged Diprotodon Optatum  , which looked somewhat like a bear. It stood 1.7 m (5.6 ft) tall at the shoulders and just under 4 m (13 ft) long, and weighed up to 2,800 kg (6,100 lb). This animal became extinct over 30,000 years ago .

9) The Largest Rodent in the World: Capybara

Have you ever seen an 80-kilogram rodent ? You may not yet be familiar with the capybara (Hydrochoerus Hydrochaeris), the largest rodent in the world. Native to the wetlands of South America, the capybara measures about 60 centimeters tall and 1.2 meters long, resembling a guinea pig on steroids ?‍♀️. Unlike other rodents, the capybara does not have a tail and its webbed feet help it move around its favorite wet terrain.

10) The World's Largest Toothed Carnivore: Sperm Whale

While the world's largest animal - the blue whale - is a filter feeder on krill, it is also technically the largest carnivore of all time, the sperm whale (Physeter macrocephalus) is the largest living toothed whale and the largest toothed predator.

Sperm whales can grow up to 20 meters long (10 meters shorter than a blue whale) and weigh 60 tons. They dive over a kilometer to hunt and feed on medium-sized giant squid, as well as rays and octopuses. Sperm whales have a unique way of sleeping, they sleep upright!

11) The Biggest Fish

A- Moonfish

The  sunfish  ? (also called Mole, from the Latin for millstone) can reach an impressive weight of 2.5 tons and a horizontal wingspan of 3 meters . Its large dorsal fin may scare swimmers at first, as it resembles that of a shark, but in fact, the sunfish is harmless to humans (and not afraid of them). These aquatic creatures with rough, silvery skin are found in tropical oceans around the world, often absorbing sunlight near the water's surface.

B- Whale Shark

The largest living fish in the world is the whale shark (Rhincodon Typus) , which is somewhat confusingly named. It can grow to almost 18 meters long and weigh up to 20 tons . The whale shark is found in tropical waters around the world and is distinguished from other types of sharks by its unique white-spotted body.

It easily falls into the category of "gentle giants." The whale shark (like most whales) is a filter feeder: Rather than seeking out and attacking other ocean creatures for food, it simply swims with its large mouth open, sucking up all the plankton, krill, fish eggs, and small fish it comes across.

12) The Largest Dolphin in the World: Orca

Orcas are also known as killer whales (Orcinus Orca) and are the largest animals in the oceanic dolphin family ? (Delphinidae). At 8 meters long and 5,400 kg, an average-sized orca can eat up to 230 kg of food per day. These apex predators have no predators and hunt in family groups, targeting everything from fish to adult whales.

Orcas are found in every ocean around the world , with hunting techniques and vocal communication specific to each group, and passed down through generations.

13) Largest Cephalopod: Colossal Squid and Giant Squid

Colossal squids are not only massive, measuring up to 13 meters long when fully grown. They are also incredibly mysterious, living at extreme depths that make collecting scientific data on them quite difficult.

There have been only a few human sightings of this cephalopod in all of history: It was first identified in 1925 from remains discovered in the stomach of a whale; since then, it has only been spotted in its entirety a handful of times. One notable feature of this elusive invertebrate is its extremely large eyes —which can be the size of a basketball.

The giant squid  ? (Architeuthis Dux) is the largest cephalopod , a group that includes squid, octopuses, cuttlefish, and nautiluses. Researchers determine the squid's length by measuring the creature's mantle (body length). The giant squid's mantle is over 2 meters long, but the animal's tentacles make the squid a massive creature at 18 meters long in total.

14) Marine Arthropod: Japanese Spider Crab

Arthropods (spiders, insects, and other hard-shelled invertebrates) are the largest animal group on Earth, but only one species of arthropod can claim the title of largest: the Japanese spider crab (Macrocheira Kaempferi). With its orange body and white-spotted legs, it lives in the Pacific Ocean near Japan, mostly in waters between 150 and 300 meters deep. It is thought to have a life expectancy of nearly 100 years.

The largest Japanese spider crab ever recorded had a wingspan of 3.8 meters . The entire length of this wingspan is in the legs, so if you think that's cheating, then the largest modern arthropod is probably the American lobster. Old lobsters can reach a body length of just over a meter, although fisheries generally don't let them age that much anymore.

15) Shell:  Giant Clam

Reaching a maximum length of 1.2 m and a weight of over 227 kg , the largest living bivalve mollusc is the giant clam ? (Tridacna Gigas).

The giant worm (Kuphus Polythalamia) is a little longer, but weighs much less. This strange marine mollusk , whose shell resembles an elephant's tusk, measures between 1 and 1.5 m long. The animal inside is black and slimy, and is about the length of a baseball bat.

16) The Largest Amphibians

A- Chinese Giant Salamander

Chinese giant salamanders are certainly not new on the block – they belong to the Cryptobranchidae family, whose ancestors split off from all other types of amphibians during the Jurassic period.

This amphibian, whose wide mouth sometimes resembles a smile, can reach nearly 1.80 m long , its tail representing more than half of this total length. The species has long been venerated in China, but it is currently threatened with extinction, mainly due to overexploitation and lack of habitat protection.

B- G renouille Goliath

The Goliath Frog  ? (Conraua Goliath) is an amphibian to be aware of. It can grow to over 12.5 inches (32 cm) in length and weigh over 7.5 pounds (3.5 kg ), making it the largest frog ever recorded and as big as some domestic cats. Goliath frogs are champion jumpers, capable of leaping nearly 10 feet (3 meters) in length. But don't expect them to croak, these giant frogs are mute.

17) The Largest Insects in the World

A- Butterfly: Queen Alexandra's Birdwing

With a wingspan of about 30 centimeters, the Queen Alexandra butterfly - found only in New Guinea - is the largest butterfly ? in existence . That's not the only place where this butterfly beats others of its kind: it takes four months to become a full-fledged adult, then lives for three more months (many other butterflies only live about a month at most).

While females are usually brown and males of this species usually have neon green and aquamarine wings. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) lists this butterfly as endangered .

B- Giant Weta

This fist-sized critter has a long history: It was able to survive because when New Zealand separated from other landmasses millions of years ago , it was left without any mammalian predators.

Today, the giant weta (of which there are 11 species ) is the heaviest insect in existence, and it lives primarily in trees. The word "weta" is derived from a phrase meaning "god of ugly things" in New Zealand's indigenous language, Maori, which is not inaccurate when referring to this long-horned, spiny-legged creature.

C- Beetle: Rhinoceros Beetle

The Rhinoceros beetle has rightly earned its common nickname of "Hercules beetle", considering that some adults of the species can lift objects up to 850 times their own weight ? .

These black, gray, or green beetles are found on every continent except Antarctica and can grow to about 15 centimeters  in length . When threatened, it can produce a high-pitched hissing sound that comes from the beetle rubbing its abdomen against its wings.

18) Spider: Bird-Eating Tarantula

The eight eyes of the Goliath bird-eating tarantula may give the impression that it has excellent eyesight, but this spider's ability to "see" comes largely from using the hairs on its body to detect nearby vibrations. The largest tarantula in the world, it has a body length of nearly 12 centimeters and a wingspan of 30 centimeters . They are almost always solitary, mating only when necessary for mating.

Now you know all about big and large animals in the animal kingdom! If your child loves whale sharks, elephants or polar bears, you can't necessarily give them one for their birthday. So discover stuffed animals ; soft, playful and cute, you're bound to find your little one's favorite future stuffed animal!