"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"
"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"
"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"")"
"Hector's ichthyosaur Hector's ichthyosaur, or the New Zealand ichthyosaur, is an unidentified extinct genus of ichthyosaur discovered in 1874. Its remains have been lost, and it may be the largest animal ever to have existed. It was named by Richard Lydekker in honor of James Hector. Based on the vertebrae of the ichthyosaur and its likely placement in Shastasauridae, it is possible that it reached twice the size of ""Shastasaurus"" and may have even outsized the blue whale which is otherwise believed to be the largest known animal. The animal would have likely resembled related taxon like ""Shastasaurus"" in appearance."
"Hector's ichthyosaur Hector's ichthyosaur, or the New Zealand ichthyosaur, is an unidentified extinct genus of ichthyosaur discovered in 1874. Its remains have been lost, and it may be the largest animal ever to have existed. It was named by Richard Lydekker in honor of James Hector. Based on the vertebrae of the ichthyosaur and its likely placement in Shastasauridae, it is possible that it reached twice the size of ""Shastasaurus"" and may have even outsized the blue whale which is otherwise believed to be the largest known animal. The animal would have likely resembled related taxon like ""Shastasaurus"" in appearance."
"Diprotodon Diprotodon, meaning ""two forward teeth"", is the largest known marsupial to have ever lived. Along with many other members of a group of species collectively known as the ""Australian megafauna"", it existed from approximately 1.6 million years ago until extinction some 46,000 years ago (through most of the Pleistocene epoch). ""Diprotodon"" species fossils have been found in sites across mainland Australia, including complete skulls and skeletons, as well as hair and foot impressions. Female skeletons have been found with babies located where the mother's pouch would have been. The largest specimens were hippopotamus-sized: about from nose to tail, standing"
"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"
"the base. Gaurs are among the largest living land animals. Only elephants, rhinos, the hippopotamus (""Hippopotamus amphibius"") and the giraffe (""Giraffa camelopardalis"") consistently grow heavier. Two species that naturally co-exist with the gaur are heavier: the Asian elephant (""Elephas maximus"") and Indian rhinoceros (""Rhinoceros unicornis""). By most standards of measurements, gaur is the largest wild bovid alive today. However, the shorter-legged, bulkier wild water buffalo (""Bubalus arnee"") is similar in average body mass, if not maximum weight. Gaur historically occurred throughout mainland South and Southeast Asia, including Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Peninsular Malaysia, Myanmar, India, Bangladesh, Bhutan, China and Nepal."
"Bruhathkayosaurus Bruhathkayosaurus (; meaning ""huge bodied lizard"") is a dinosaur, with remains found in India, claimed by some researchers to have been the largest dinosaur that ever lived. Estimates of size exceed the titanosaur ""Argentinosaurus"", as longer than and weighing over 80-200 tons. The accuracy of this claim, however, has been mired in controversy and debate. All the estimates are based on Yadagiri and Ayyasami's 1989 paper, which announced the find (see below: Size estimates). ""Bruhathkayosaurus"" was found near the southern tip of India, specifically in the Tiruchirappalli district of Tamil Nadu, to the northeast of Kallamedu village. It was"
"Andesaurus Andesaurus ( ; ""Andes lizard"") is a genus of basal titanosaurian sauropod dinosaur which existed during the middle of the Cretaceous Period in South America. Like most sauropods, it would have had a small head on the end of a long neck and an equally long tail. ""Andesaurus"" was a very large animal, as were many others of its relatives, which included the largest animals ever to walk the Earth. In 1991, paleontologists Jorge Orlando Calvo and José Fernando Bonaparte named ""Andesaurus"", which refers to the Andes and also includes the Greek word ""sauros"" (""lizard""), because of the proximity"
"Dreadnoughtus Dreadnoughtus is a genus of giant titanosaurian sauropod dinosaur containing a single species, Dreadnoughtus schrani. ""D. schrani"" is known from two partial skeletons discovered in Upper Cretaceous (Campanian-Maastrichtian; 84–66 Ma) rocks of the Cerro Fortaleza Formation in Santa Cruz Province, Argentina. It is one of the largest of all known terrestrial vertebrates, possessing the greatest mass of any land animal that can be calculated with reasonable certainty. ""D. schrani"" is known from a more complete skeleton than any other gigantic titanosaurian. Drexel University Paleontologist Kenneth Lacovara, who discovered the species, chose the name “Dreadnoughtus,” which means “fears nothing,"" stating"
"15 species. The extinct ancestors of modern whales are the Archaeoceti. While cetaceans were historically thought to have descended from mesonychids, molecular evidence supports them as a relative of Artiodactyls (even-toed ungulates). Cetaceans belong to the order Cetartiodactyla (formed by combining Cetacea + Artiodactyla) and their closest living relatives are hippopotamuses and other hoofed mammals (camels, pigs, and ruminants), having diverged about 50 million years ago. Cetaceans range in size from the and Maui's dolphin to the and blue whale, which is also the largest animal ever known to have existed. Several species exhibit sexual dimorphism. They have streamlined bodies"
"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"
"For much of the dinosaur era, the smallest sauropods were larger than anything else in their habitat, and the largest were an order of magnitude more massive than anything else that has since walked the Earth. Giant prehistoric mammals such as ""Paraceratherium"" (the largest land mammal ever) were dwarfed by the giant sauropods, and only modern whales approach or surpass them in size. There are several proposed advantages for the large size of sauropods, including protection from predation, reduction of energy use, and longevity, but it may be that the most important advantage was dietary. Large animals are more efficient"
"al."", 2012:683). Cephalopods were at one time the largest of all organisms on Earth (Smith ""et al."", 2016), and numerous species of comparable size to the largest present day squids are known from the fossil record, including enormous examples of ammonoids, belemnoids, nautiloids, orthoceratoids, teuthids, and vampyromorphids. In terms of mass, the largest of all known cephalopods were likely the giant shelled ammonoids and endocerid nautiloids (Teichert & Kummel, 1960:6), though perhaps still second to the largest living cephalopods when considering tissue mass alone (Vermeij, 2016). Size, and particularly maximum size, has been one of the most interesting aspects of"
"Archelon Archelon (from the Greek roots ἀρχε- ""arkhe-"" ""chief"" and χελώνη ""chelone"" ""turtle"", meaning ""ruler turtle"") is an extinct sea turtle from the Late Cretaceous, the largest ever to have been documented– head to tail and flipper to flipper–and the second-heaviest––behind ""Stupendemys"". The first specimen of ""Archelon"" (YPM 3000) was collected from the Campanian-age Pierre Shale of South Dakota (a geological formation dated to 80.5 million years ago) by Dr. G.R. Wieland in 1895 and described by him the following year (Wieland, 1896). The largest ""Archelon"" fossil, found in the Pierre Shale of South Dakota in the 1970s, measures more"
"elephant (""Loxodonta africana""), of the order Proboscidea, is the largest living land animal. A native of various open habitats in sub-Saharan Africa, this elephant is commonly born weighing about . The largest elephant ever recorded was shot in Angola in 1974. It was a male measuring from trunk to tail and lying on its side in a projected line from the highest point of the shoulder to the base of the forefoot, indicating a standing shoulder height of . This male had a computed weight of 12.25 tonnes. The heaviest living animals are all cetaceans, and thus also the largest"
"the size of Cenozoic mammals, estimated by the National Museum of Natural History as about . The sauropods were the largest and heaviest dinosaurs. For much of the dinosaur era, the smallest sauropods were larger than anything else in their habitat, and the largest were an order of magnitude more massive than anything else that has since walked the Earth. Giant prehistoric mammals such as ""Paraceratherium"" and ""Palaeoloxodon"" (the largest land mammals ever) were dwarfed by the giant sauropods, and only modern whales surpass them in size. There are several proposed advantages for the large size of sauropods, including protection"
"includes some of the most unusual creatures to inhabit North America – animals such as:""Geochelone"", a giant bathtub-sized tortoise; ""Aiolornis incredibilis"", the largest flying bird of the Northern Hemisphere, with 17-ft (5.2-m) wing span; ""Paramylodon"", ""Megalonyx"" and ""Nothrotheriops"", giant ground sloths, some with bony armor within their skin; ""Pewelagus"", a very small rabbit (paleontologists can name with a sense of humor); ""Borophagus"", a hyena-like dog; ""Acrtodus"", a giant short-faced bear; ""Smilodon"", a saber-toothed cat; ""Miracinonyx"", the North American cheetah; ""Mammuthus imperator"", the largest known mammoth; ""Tapirus"", an extinct tapir; ""Equus enormis"" and ""Equus scotti"", two species of extinct Pleistocene horses;"
"Sauropodomorpha Sauropodomorpha ( ; from Greek, meaning ""lizard-footed forms"") is an extinct clade of long-necked, herbivorous, saurischian dinosaurs that includes the sauropods and their ancestral relatives. Sauropods generally grew to very large sizes, had long necks and tails, were quadrupedal, and became the largest animals to ever walk the Earth. The ""prosauropods"", which preceded the sauropods, were smaller and were often able to walk on two legs. The sauropodomorphs were the dominant terrestrial herbivores throughout much of the Mesozoic Era, from their origins in the mid-Triassic (approximately 230 Ma) until their decline and extinction at the end of the Cretaceous"
"Blue whale The blue whale (""Balaenoptera musculus"") is a marine mammal belonging to the baleen whale parvorder, Mysticeti. At up to in length and with a maximum recorded weight of , it is the largest animal known to have ever existed. Long and slender, the blue whale's body can be various shades of bluish-grey dorsally and somewhat lighter underneath. There are at least three distinct subspecies: ""B. m. musculus"" of the North Atlantic and North Pacific, ""B. m. intermedia"" of the Southern Ocean and ""B. m. brevicauda"" (also known as the pygmy blue whale) found in the Indian Ocean and"
"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"
"group survived. New fossil finds have been found in the Cretaceous rocks of Gondwana. Today, the 5,500 species of living synapsids, known as the mammals, include both aquatic (whales) and flying (bats) species, and the largest animal ever known to have existed (the blue whale). Humans are synapsids, as well. Most mammals are viviparous and give birth to live young rather than laying eggs with the exception being the monotremes. Triassic and Jurassic ancestors of living mammals, along with their close relatives, had high metabolic rates. This meant consuming food (generally thought to be insects) in much greater quantity. To"
"Paraceratherium Paraceratherium is an extinct genus of hornless rhinoceros, and one of the largest terrestrial mammals that has ever existed. It lived from the early to late Oligocene epoch (34–23 million years ago); its remains have been found across Eurasia between China and the Balkans. It is classified as a member of the hyracodont subfamily Indricotheriinae. ""Paraceratherium"" means ""near the hornless beast"", in reference to ""Aceratherium"", the genus in which the type species ""P. bugtiense"" was originally placed. The exact size of ""Paraceratherium"" is unknown because of the incompleteness of the fossils. Its weight is estimated to have been at"
"Gigantopithecus Gigantopithecus (from the Ancient Greek ' ""giant"", and ' ""ape"") is an extinct genus of ape that existed from perhaps nine million years to as recently as one hundred thousand years ago, in what is now India, Vietnam, China and Indonesia placing ""Gigantopithecus"" in the same time frame and geographical location as several hominin species. The primate fossil record suggests that the species ""Gigantopithecus blacki"" were the largest known primates that ever lived, standing up to and weighing as much as , although some argue that it is more likely that they were much smaller, at roughly in height"
"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"
"Sauropoda Sauropoda ( or ), or the sauropods (; ""sauro-"" + ""-pod"", ""lizard-footed""), are a clade of saurischian (""lizard-hipped"") dinosaurs. They had very long necks, long tails, small heads (relative to the rest of their body), and four thick, pillar-like legs. They are notable for the enormous sizes attained by some species, and the group includes the largest animals to have ever lived on land. Well-known genera include ""Brachiosaurus"", ""Diplodocus"", ""Apatosaurus"" and ""Brontosaurus"". Sauropods first appeared in the late Triassic Period, where they somewhat resembled the closely related (and possibly ancestral) group ""Prosauropoda"". By the Late Jurassic (150 million years"
"large animals on the planet. The New Zealand sea lion (""Phocarctos hookeri""), one of the rarest and most localised pinnipeds, breeds almost exclusively on the subantarctic Auckland Islands, although historically it had a wider range. Out of all permanent mammalian residents, the Weddell seals live the furthest south. There are 10 cetacean species found in the Southern Ocean; six baleen whales, and four toothed whales. The largest of these, the blue whale (""Balaenoptera musculus""), grows to long weighing 84 tonnes. Many of these species are migratory, and travel to tropical waters during the Antarctic winter. Orcas, which do not migrate,"
"Largest prehistoric animals The largest prehistoric organisms include both vertebrate and invertebrate species. Many are described below, along with their typical range of size (for the general dates of extinction, see the link to each). Many species mentioned might not actually be the largest representative of their clade due to the incompleteness of the fossil record and many of the sizes given are merely estimates since no complete specimen have been found. Their body mass, especially, is mostly conjecture because soft tissue was rarely fossilized. Generally the size of extinct species was subject to energetic and biomechanical constraints. The largest-known"