"and Newfoundland, but is less common here than in the east, and occurs only at depths between . The largest lancelets: European lancelet (""Branchiostoma lanceolatum"") ""primitive fish"". It can grow up to 6 cm (2.5 in) long. The blue whale is the largest mammal. The largest land mammal extant today is the African bush elephant. The largest extinct land mammal known was long considered to be ""Paraceratherium orgosensis"", a rhinoceros relative thought to have stood up to tall, measured over long and may have weighed about 17 tonnes. In 2015, a study suggested that one example of the proboscidean ""Palaeoloxodon"
"comparison, the giraffe, the tallest of all living land animals, is only 4.8 to 5.5 metres (16 to 18 ft) tall. The best evidence indicates that the most massive were ""Argentinosaurus"" (120 metric tons), ""Puertasaurus"" (80 to 100 metric tons ), ""Alamosaurus"", ""Paralititan"", ""Antarctosaurus"" (69 metric tons). There was poor (and now missing) evidence that so-called ""Bruhathkayosaurus"", might have weighed over 175 metric tons but this has been questioned. The weight of ""Amphicoelias fragillimus"" was estimated at 122.4 metric tons but 2015 research argued that these estimates may have been highly exaggerated. The largest land animal alive today, the Savannah"
"a synonym of ""Paraceratherium"", ""Indricotherium"", the biggest land mammal ever to live. Indrik In the Dove Book and Russian folklore, the Indrik-Beast (Russian: Индрик-зверь, transliteration: ""Indrik zver' "") is a fabulous beast, the king of all animals, who lives on a mountain known as ""The Holy Mountain"" where no other foot may tread. When it stirs, the Earth trembles. The word ""Indrik"" is a distorted version of the Russian word ""edinorog"" (unicorn)."" The Indrik is described as a gigantic bull with legs of a deer, the head of a horse and an enormous horn in its snout, making it vaguely"
"up to . The largest land mammal of all time may have also been a proboscidean: ""Palaeoloxodon namadicus"", which may have weighed up to with a shoulder height of up to , surpassing several sauropod dinosaurs (in height). The earliest known proboscidean is ""Eritherium"", followed by ""Phosphatherium"", a small animal about the size of a fox. These both date from late Paleocene deposits of Morocco. Proboscideans diversified during the Eocene and early Oligocene. Several primitive families from these epochs have been described, including Numidotheriidae, Moeritheriidae, and Barytheriidae in Africa. (Anthracobunidae from the Indian subcontinent has also been included, but was"
"in 1982, multiple establishments in Japan that raise capybaras have adopted the practice of having them relax in onsen during the winter. Capybara The capybara (""Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris"") is a mammal native to South America. It is the largest living rodent in the world. Also called chigüire, chigüiro (in Venezuela) and carpincho, it is a member of the genus ""Hydrochoerus"", of which the only other extant member is the lesser capybara (""Hydrochoerus isthmius""). Its close relatives include guinea pigs and rock cavies, and it is more distantly related to the agouti, the chinchilla, and the coypu. The capybara inhabits savannas and"
"fossils suggested that ""P. namadicus"" may have been the largest land mammals ever. Several studies have attempted to estimate the size of the Asian straight-tusked elephants, as well as other prehistoric proboscideans, usually using comparisons of thigh bone length and knowledge of relative growth rates to estimate the size of incomplete skeletons. One partial skeleton found in India in 1905 had thigh bones that likely measured when complete, suggesting a total shoulder height of for this individual elephant. Two partial thigh bones were found in the 19th century and would have measured 160 cm (5.2 ft) when complete. A fragment"
"one of the largest and oldest clonal colonies on Earth. Among animals, the largest species are all marine mammals, specifically whales. The blue whale is believed to be the largest animal to have ever lived. The largest land animal classification is also dominated by mammals, with the African bush elephant being the most massive of these. The largest single-stem tree by wood volume and mass is the giant sequoia (""Sequoiadendron giganteum""), native to Sierra Nevada and California; it typically grows to a height of and in diameter. Multiple-stem trees such as banyan can be enormous. Thimmamma Marrimanu in India spreads"
"Goliath frog The goliath frog otherwise known as goliath bullfrog or giant slippery frog (""Conraua goliath"") is the largest living frog on Earth. Specimens can grow up to 32 cm (12.6 in) in length from snout to vent, and weigh up to 3.25 kg (7.17 lb). This species has a relatively small habitat range in Cameroon and Equatorial Guinea. Its numbers are dwindling due to habitat destruction and its collection for food and the pet trade. In a sample of 15 individuals, weights ranged between , and snout-vent lengths were between . Their eyes can be nearly in diameter. The"
"for balance. Kopidodon Kopidodon is a genus of extinct squirrel-like mammals belonging to the order Cimolesta. ""Kopidodon"" was one of the largest tree-dwelling mammals known from Eocene Europe: growing 115 centimeters long (most of that length is tail). This mammal sported large canine teeth, probably for defense. However its molars were adapted for chewing plants, not flesh. Its legs and claws allowed ""Kopidodon"" to scramble through the trees with the greatest of ease, much like modern-day squirrels. Its fossils were found in the Messel pit, preserving even its fur. We know that like a giant squirrel, ""Kopidodon"" had a thick"
"Proboscidea The Proboscidea (from the Greek and the Latin ""proboscis"") are a taxonomic order of afrotherian mammals containing one living family (Elephantidae) and several extinct families. This order, first described by J. Illiger in 1811, encompasses the trunked mammals. In addition to their enormous size, later proboscideans are distinguished by tusks and long, muscular trunks; these features were less developed or absent in the smaller early proboscideans. Beginning in the mid Miocene, most members of this order were very large animals. The largest land mammal today is the African elephant weighing up to 10.4 tonnes with a shoulder height of"
"Capybara The capybara (""Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris"") is a mammal native to South America. It is the largest living rodent in the world. Also called chigüire, chigüiro (in Venezuela) and carpincho, it is a member of the genus ""Hydrochoerus"", of which the only other extant member is the lesser capybara (""Hydrochoerus isthmius""). Its close relatives include guinea pigs and rock cavies, and it is more distantly related to the agouti, the chinchilla, and the coypu. The capybara inhabits savannas and dense forests and lives near bodies of water. It is a highly social species and can be found in groups as large"
"living mammals. Since no scale can accommodate the whole body of a large whale, most whales have been weighed by parts. The following is a list of the heaviest wild land animals, which are all mammals. The African elephant is now listed as two species, the African bush elephant and the African forest elephant, as they are now generally considered to be two separate species. The largest tunicates are ""Synoicum pulmonaria"", found at depths of , and are up to 14 centimetres (6 in) in diameter. It is also present in the northwestern Atlantic Ocean, around the coasts of Greenland"
"its species is unconfirmed thus far. Another very large pliosaur was ""Pliosaurus macromerus"", known from a single incomplete mandible. It may have reached , assuming the skull was about 17% of the total body length. The largest-known ichthyosaur was ""Shastasaurus sikanniensis"" at in length. In April 2018, paleontologists announced the discovery of a previously unknown ichthyosaur that may have reached lengths of 26 m (85 ft)- 30 m (100 feet long) making it one of the largest animals known, rivaling the Blue Whale in size. Another giant Ichthyosaur was found as well and it was larger than Lilstock Monster, possibly"
"namadicus"" may have been the largest land mammal ever, based on extensive research of fragmentary leg bone fossils from one individual, with a maximum estimated size of 22 tonnes. The Permian era ""Cotylorhynchus"", from what is now the southern United States, probably was the largest of all synapsids (most of which became extinct 250 million years ago), at and 2 tonnes. The largest carnivorous synapsid was ""Anteosaurus"" from what is now South Africa during Middle Permian era. ""Anteosaurus"" was long, and weighed about . The largest living reptile, a representative of the order Crocodilia, is the saltwater crocodile (""Crocodylus porosus"")"
"modern mammalian orders arose in the Paleogene and Neogene periods of the Cenozoic era, after the extinction of non-avian dinosaurs, and have been among the dominant terrestrial animal groups from 66 million years ago to the present. The basic body type is quadriped, and most mammals use their four extremities for terrestrial locomotion; but in some, the extremities are adapted for life at sea, in the air, in trees, underground, or on two legs. Mammals range in size from the bumblebee bat to the blue whale - the largest animal on the planet. All modern mammals give birth to live"
"from the same locality was said to be almost a quarter larger; volumetric analysis then yields a size estimate of tall at the shoulder and in weight. This would make ""P. namadicus"" the largest land mammal known, surpassing the largest indricotheres. The researcher Dr. Asier Larramendi of the Eofauna Scientific Research team is considered a leading authority in the field, especially with regard to volumetric analyses in estimating the height and weight of this and other extinct species. Palaeoloxodon namadicus Palaeoloxodon namadicus or the Asian straight-tusked elephant, was a species of prehistoric elephant that ranged throughout Pleistocene Asia, from India"
"been small, about as large as a medium-sized dog, with three toes on each foot. All this information is based on a complete lower jaw. The largest mammal that has been discovered so far is a brontothere, an elephant-sized animal with a pair of thick horns on the top of its head. All of this information is based on fragmented vertebrae and small pieces of tooth enamel. The oreodont, is an extinct family that resembles modern sheep and pigs. The only oreodont specimen is a jaw fragment. Other mammals have been described in the formation based on teeth specimens. In"
"land animal in history. In the later part of the twentieth century several giant titanosaurians found appear to have surpassed ""Giraffatitan"" in terms of sheer mass. However, ""Giraffatitan"" and ""Brachiosaurus"" are still the largest brachiosaurid sauropods known from relatively complete material. All size estimates for ""Giraffatitan"" are based on the skeleton mounted in Berlin, partly constructed from authentic bones. These were largely taken from specimen HMN SII, a subadult individual between in length and about twelve meters (forty feet) tall. The often mentioned length of 22.46 metres is by Werner Janensch, the German scientist who described ""Giraffatitan"", and was the"
"by the zoologist Richard Owen, who also coined the order name. The largest odd-toed ungulates are rhinoceroses, and the extinct ""Paraceratherium"", a hornless rhino from the Oligocene, is considered one of the largest land mammals of all time. At the other extreme, an early member of the order, the prehistoric horse ""Hyracotherium"", had a withers height of only . Apart from dwarf varieties of the domestic horse and donkey, perissodactyls reach a body length of and a weight of . While rhinos have only sparse hair and exhibit a thick epidermis, tapirs and horses have dense, short coats. Most species"
"weighed . A population of small woolly mammoths survived on Wrangel Island, now north of the Siberian coast, as recently as 4,000 years ago. After their discovery in 1993, they were considered dwarf mammoths. This classification has been re-evaluated and since the Second International Mammoth Conference in 1999, these animals are no longer considered to be true ""dwarf mammoths"". Elephants are the largest living terrestrial animals. African bush elephants are the largest species, with males typically being tall at the shoulder and while females stand tall at the shoulder with a body mass of . Male Asian elephants are usually"
"Mammal Mammals ( from Latin ""mamma"" ""breast"") are vertebrate animals constituting the class Mammalia, and characterized by the presence of mammary glands, which in females produce milk for feeding (nursing) their young; a neocortex (a region of the brain); hair; and three middle ear bones. These characteristics distinguish them from reptiles and birds, from which they diverged in the late Triassic. There are around 5,450 species of mammals. The largest orders are the rodents, bats and Soricomorpha (shrews and allies). The next three are the Primates (apes, monkeys, and allies), the Cetartiodactyla (whales and even-toed ungulates), and the Carnivora (cats,"
"including salt water, hydrothermal vents, fresh water, hot springs, swamps, forests, pastures, deserts, air, and the interiors of animals, plants, fungi and rocks. Animals are however not particularly heat tolerant; very few of them can survive at constant temperatures above . Only very few species of animals (mostly nematodes) inhabit the most extreme cold deserts of continental Antarctica. The blue whale (""Balaenoptera musculus"") is the largest animal that has ever lived, weighing up to 190 metric tonnes and measuring up to long. The largest extant terrestrial animal is the African bush elephant (""Loxodonta africana""), weighing up to 12.25 tonnes and"
"measuring up to long. The largest terrestrial animals that ever lived were titanosaur sauropod dinosaurs such as ""Argentinosaurus"", which may have weighed as much as 73 tonnes. Several animals are microscopic; some Myxozoa (obligate parasites within the Cnidaria) never grow larger than 20 µm, and one of the smallest species (""Myxobolus shekel"") is no more than 8.5 µm when fully grown. The following table lists estimated numbers of described extant species for the animal groups with the largest numbers of species, along with their principal habitats (terrestrial, fresh water, and marine), and free-living or parasitic ways of life. Species estimates"
"subspecies. Giant tortoises are among the longest-lived animals on the planet. Some individual Aldabra giant tortoises are thought to be over 200 years of age, but this is difficult to verify because they tend to outlive their human observers. Adwaita was reputedly one of four brought by British seamen from the Seychelles Islands as gifts to Robert Clive of the British East India Company in the 18th century, and came to the Calcutta Zoo in 1875. At his death in March 2006 at the Kolkata (formerly Calcutta) Zoo in India, Adwaita is reputed to have reached the longest ever measured"
"by collecting the antlers which are shed each winter. The antlers are then auctioned with 80% of the proceeds returned to the refuge. In 2010, of antlers were auctioned, bringing in over $46,000. Elk The elk or wapiti (""Cervus canadensis"") is one of the largest species within the deer family, Cervidae, in the world, and one of the largest terrestrial mammals in North America and Northeast Asia. This animal should not be confused with the still larger moose (""Alces alces"") to which the name ""elk"" applies in British English and in reference to populations in Eurasia. Elk range in forest"
"Kopidodon Kopidodon is a genus of extinct squirrel-like mammals belonging to the order Cimolesta. ""Kopidodon"" was one of the largest tree-dwelling mammals known from Eocene Europe: growing 115 centimeters long (most of that length is tail). This mammal sported large canine teeth, probably for defense. However its molars were adapted for chewing plants, not flesh. Its legs and claws allowed ""Kopidodon"" to scramble through the trees with the greatest of ease, much like modern-day squirrels. Its fossils were found in the Messel pit, preserving even its fur. We know that like a giant squirrel, ""Kopidodon"" had a thick bushy tail"
"the current largest land animal, the average male African bush elephant is 3.20 m (10.5 ft) tall at the shoulder and has a body mass of 6,000 kg (13,228 lb) or 6.6 short tons. The skull of ""Brontosaurus"" hasn't been found but was probably similar to the skull of the closely related ""Apatosaurus"". Like those of other sauropods, the vertebrae of the neck were deeply bifurcated; that is, they carried paired spines, resulting in a wide and deep neck. The spine and tail consisted of 15 cervicals, 10 dorsals, five sacrals, and 82 caudals. The caudal vertebra number was noted"
"minute to capture termites. Australia is also home to the world's largest and most diverse selection of marsupials: mammals with a pouch in which they rear their young. The marsupial carnivores — order Dasyuromorphia — are represented by two surviving families: the Dasyuridae with 51 members, and the Myrmecobiidae with the numbat as its sole surviving member. The thylacine, or Tasmanian tiger, was the largest Dasyuromorphia and the last living specimen of the family Thylacinidae; however, the last known specimen died in captivity in 1936. The world's largest surviving carnivorous marsupial is the Tasmanian devil; it is the size of"
"December 1888 by Richard Wetherill and Charlie Mason who were searching for stray cattle on Chapin Mesa. 1889 Torosaurus Torosaurus was a herbivorous dinosaur that lived during the Late Cretaceous Period about 70 million years ago in what is now North America. Torosaurus had an enormous head that measured 8 feet (2.5 m) in length. Its skull is one of the largest know up to date, no other land animal has ever had a skull larger than Torosaurus. Torosaurus frill made up about one-half the total skull length. The first fossils of Torosaurus were discovered in 1889, in Wyoming by"
"20th century, and has been featured in film, advertising, postal stamps, and many other media. ""Tyrannosaurus rex"" was one of the largest land carnivores of all time; the largest complete specimen, located at the Field Museum of Natural History under the name FMNH PR2081 and nicknamed Sue, measured long, and was tall at the hips, and according to the most recent studies estimated to have weighed between to when alive. Not every adult ""Tyrannosaurus"" specimen recovered is as big. Historically average adult mass estimates have varied widely over the years, from as low as , to more than , with"
"is the largest known multituberculate, this creature was as big as the giant beaver. Taeniolabis Taeniolabis (""Ribbon lips"") is a genus of extinct multituberculate mammal from the Paleocene of North America. It is the largest known member of the extinct order Multituberculata, as well as the largest non-therian mammal: ""T. taoensis"" possibly exceeds 100 kg. It is within the suborder of Cimolodonta and is a member of the superfamily Taeniolabidoidea. The genus was named by Edward Drinker Cope in 1882. Species have also been placed with the genera ""Catopsalis"" and ""Polymastodon"". The species ""Taeniolabis lamberti"" was named by N.B. Simmons"
"whales. The giant squid is the second-largest mollusc and one of the largest of all extant invertebrates. It is only exceeded by the colossal squid, ""Mesonychoteuthis hamiltoni"", which may have a mantle nearly twice as long. Several extinct cephalopods, such as the Cretaceous vampyromorphid ""Tusoteuthis"", the Cretaceous coleoid ""Yezoteuthis"", and the Ordovician nautiloid ""Cameroceras"" may have grown even larger. Giant squid size, particularly total length, has often been exaggerated. Reports of specimens reaching and even exceeding are widespread, but no specimens approaching this size have been scientifically documented. According to giant squid expert Steve O'Shea, such lengths were likely achieved"
"where she was rushed to SeaWorld San Diego. After 14 months, she was released because she also grew too large to be cared for in the existing facilities. Reaching and , J.J. was the largest creature ever to be kept in captivity. Gray whale The gray whale (""Eschrichtius robustus""), also known as the grey whale, gray back whale, Pacific gray whale, or California gray whale is a baleen whale that migrates between feeding and breeding grounds yearly. It reaches a length of , a weight of , and lives between 55 and 70 years. The common name of the whale"