Top 10 Biggest & Largest Animals in the World
Serengeti Mara Experts
Top 10 Biggest & Largest Animals in the World.
The beautiful world is definitely an incredible place of magnificent wonders with impressive sceneries, attractions and sightings. Today, we look at some of the world’s largest and biggest ever recorded animals.
When it comes to size, the animal kingdom offers some remarkable examples. Size doesn’t lie, the largest are definitely the heaviest.
Here are the ten largest animals you should know. Planning a safari to meet some of them in an exciting African safari is considered one of the life-changing decisions.
In this list of top 10 biggest & largest animal sin the world, we have chronologically listed them based on their immense size from the biggest or largest to the least large.
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The Blue Whale (Balaenoptera musculus)
The blue whale is the number one world’s largest animal ever recorded. The blue whale is a dangerous and solitary giant animal. Much as the blue whale prefers a solitary life, they may congregate strictly for breeding or feeding purposes.
Its heart alone weighs about 180 kilograms, pumping 220 liters of blood with each beat. A single breath can fill its lungs with 5,000 liters of air.
Measuring up to 30 meters long, the whale is a giant mammal that weights about 180metric tons.
Now endangered, the total blue whales’ populations remaining in the world are about 20,000. This is due to factors like hunting, climatic changes, water pollution and more.
Found in almost all the oceans worldwide, the blue whales are found in the coldest waters of Artic and Antarctica.
The blue whales can migrate thousands of kilometers yearly.
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African Elephant (Loxodonta Africana)
The African elephant is considered the largest land animal with impressive tusks that can grow over 3 meters. The elephant’s trunks alone contain about 40,000 muscles, making it incredibly strong – no wonder many poachers target this.
Measuring up to 7.5 meters long at the shoulder and about 3.5meters tall and weighing up to 6metric tons, the elephant is one gentle giant you want to see especially in their natural habitat.
Despite their giant size, elephants are typically herbivores and feed strictly on plants, grasses, stems, leaves.
To maintain their giant body size, the elephant requires a huge amount of food of up to 300 pounds per day.
If you need to sightsee these giants, you can find them inhabiting different savannas, forests, and deserts in sub-Saharan Africa many Africa’s national parks such as Tanzania’s Serengeti, Tarangire, Lake Manyara, Ngorongoro, Masai Mara National Reserve and in Uganda, the best place to see elephants is Queen Elizabeth National parks among others.
Just like any other animal, the elephant plays a vital role in shaping ecosystems by creating water holes and clearing heavy vegetation that may be utilized by other smaller wild animals.
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Colossal Squid (Mesonychoteuthis hamiltoni)
The Colossal squid is the largest known squid that measures up to 14 meters tall and weighing up to 500kg. This is a massive squid found in the deep sea surrounding the Antarctica, America and south Africa.
The colossal isn’t just the largest invertebrate, but also it holds the record of having the largest eye. In fact the colossal’ s eye is larger than that of the blue whale.
Key Feature: Largest invertebrate, with eyes up to 30 centimeters wide, allowing excellent vision in dark ocean depths. It has hooks on its tentacles for capturing prey.
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The White rhinoceros
This incredible herbivore that claims its place among the top 5 most dangerous to hunt African animals is a huge giant the weights up to 4.3 metric tons.
The name white rhino may be confusing; the white rhino is not exactly white. In fact, it is grey.
Compared to their other counterparts, an indicant rhino may weight about 2,200kg while the black rhino may weigh between 800 and 1,400kg.
Rhinos are considered some of the endangered animals on earth.
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Hippopotamus (scientifically known as Hippopotamus amphibius)
The hippopotamus simply known as ‘hippo’ is one of the biggest animals on land. A mature adult hippo can grow up to 4 meters (13 feet) tall and a weight of 1,500 kilograms (3,307 pounds).
They are known to be herbivorous aquatic animals that spend most of their time in deep swamps, lakes, and rivers. Hippos have recognizable barrel-shaped bodies and enormous heads with pointed teeth.
Hippos are considered among the most dangerous animals and very well known for being extremely territorial and violent. They are widespread across several African nations, primarily in sub-Saharan Africa and may be seen in various national parks and reserves in Africa.
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Giraffe (Giraffa Camelopardalis)
Girraffes of Tanzania
The giraffe is the known tallest land animal, standing up to 5.7meters tall with a neck alone reaching over 2 meters and a specialized circulatory system to handle blood flow to the head.
The giraffe’s giant height makes it a very easily noticeable animal and may be sighted from a distance, Even if it may not be the very biggest animal but it’s definitely the tallest land animal you can ever see.
A girraffe’s tongue is pretty long and can measure up to 50 centimeters, help them feed on high foliage.
Meeting a giraffe in any of our safaris can be very satisfying as you will always find them grazing together with the zebras, antelopes in an African savannas, woodlands, and grasslands, easily seen in Serengeti, Ngorongoro, Tarangire, Lake Manyara, Masai Mara, Lake Nakuru and many other known national parks.
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Saltwater Crocodile (Crocodylus porosus)
This is the largest ever known reptile, famous for its powerful bite capable of crushing bones. They can remain underwater for over an hour.
The saltwater crocodile measures up to 7meters and can weight up to 1metric ton.
Mostly found inhibiting the brackish and saltwater regions across Southeast Asia and northern Australia. They are apex predators, dangerous creatures playing a key role in their ecosystems.
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Whale Shark (Rhincodon typus)
The whale shark is the Largest known fish, with a massive mouth that can be over a meter wide, used for filter-feeding plankton and small fish. The ideal whale shark stretches up to 18meters.
Despite their size, they are gentle and often interact with divers.
They are found in tropical and warm-temperate oceans and known so much for being highly migratory traveling vast distances to feed and breed.
Recommended Safari packages
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Brown Bear (including Kodiak Bear) (Ursus arctos)
Size: Up to 3 meters tall when standing and over 600 kilograms
Key Feature: One of the largest terrestrial carnivores, with powerful limbs for digging and climbing. They can consume up to 40 kilograms of food in a day to prepare for hibernation.
Habitat: Occupies forests, tundra, and alpine meadows across North America, Europe, and Asia. Brown bears play a role in seed dispersion and maintaining ecosystem balance.
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Gorilla
It goes without saying that this impressive gentle giant ape is immensely huge. Considered by many as one of the most exciting to sightsee, a gorilla encounter shall leave you with enticing appreciation of how these gentle cousins live their lives.
The heaviest gorilla is an adult silverback that weight between 135 and 200kg, standing between 1.5 to 1.8 meters tall with an arm stretch of up to 2.6 meters.
Conclusion
There you have it, the top ten biggest and largest animals in the world listed from the largest to the smallest. These animals represent some of nature’s most extraordinary feats of size and adaptation with each claiming its own position in the ecosystem.
The list isn’t an exhaustive on but, merely top ten animal out of the thousands of other exciting animals you can sightsee.
Planning an African safari visit to sightsee some of them is considered an encounter unforgettable.
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