Among animals, as, indeed, among humans, there isrecord-holders worthy of getting into the Guinness Book of Records. Some of them are recognized as the strongest, others are the fastest. And some can boast of only their huge weight or the number of teeth. But today we are only interested in one category, which we will discuss below.
On Earth there are many land and sea inhabitants who can compete for the title the heaviest animal in the world. If you ask passers-by on the street, which onethe animal is the heaviest, you can hear the most diverse answers: elephant and buffalo, whale and shark, hippopotamus and even giraffe. But in this article we should name the only terrestrial inhabitant, whose weight and size significantly exceeds the parameters of competitors. You will learn how much the elephant and behemoth weigh, and whether they can be considered the heaviest. First we will get acquainted with some giants who live on land.
The Bear Kodiak
This is not the heaviest land animal, butI would like to mention it in our review. A subspecies of brown bears, which in many countries is protected by the state. The average weight of a male exceeds 700 kilograms, and the female weight is 300 kilograms. At the same time, it is necessary to say that there are cases when the weight of the Kodiak exceeded a ton.
White (polar) bear
This is the heaviest carnivorous animal livingon the land. The largest polar bear weighed a little over a ton and had a body length of about three meters. The growth of the predator standing on the paws was 3.39 m. The average length of the torso of the polar bear males is about two and a half meters, the height at the withers is up to one and a half meters, and the average weight reaches eight hundred kilograms. Bear cubs are about half the size of males, their weight does not exceed 300 kilograms. It is interesting that a hundred thousand years ago (during the Pleistocene epoch) there was a huge white bear on the earth, whose weight exceeded 1.2 tons, and the size was four meters in length.
hippo
This is one of the largest and most severe animals,living on the Earth. The weight of large males often exceeds four tons, so the hippo constitutes a worthy competition for the rhinoceros in the struggle for second place among the land inhabitants.
Now the behemoth in vivois found only in Africa, south of the Sahara, although in ancient, for example, ancient times, it had a wider area. This giant lived in North Africa, and scientists believe that he lived in the Middle East. However, already in the early Middle Ages it was destroyed in these regions. In 2006, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature declared the hippopotamus vulnerable.
The number of these animals at that time was notexceeded one hundred and fifty thousand heads. The natives of Africa are destroying hippopotamuses primarily for the sake of meat, so the bloody wars and instability in many countries of the continent make hungry people look for food, thereby causing great damage to the animal population.
African elephant
This is the most difficult animal in the world, inhabiting thedrier. From fellow people living on other continents, it differs not only in body weight, but also with huge ears that help it feel most comfortable under the rays of the scorching African sun.
The tusks of these giants are very valuable.It was they who nearly caused the complete extermination of elephants. A huge number of animals were killed for expensive trophies. The situation with the disappearance of the population was saved by reserves and National Parks.
The weight of African elephants is impressive:Adult males weigh more than 7.5 tons, but the heaviest land animal is very moving, beautifully floats and confident feeling even on rocky terrain. African elephants are animal herbivores. They feed on young shoots of trees and shrubs, grass. In a day the adult individual absorbs up to one hundred kilograms of green mass. Animals form small herds of 9-14 individuals. In addition to man, in nature, elephants do not have enemies.
Knowing how much an elephant and hippopotamus weigh, different speciesbears, you can easily determine the leader by body weight. This, of course, is an African elephant, which is the heaviest land animal. It's time to get acquainted with the underwater inhabitants. Perhaps in the depths of the sea lives the most difficult animal in the world.
Whale Shark
This is the largest shark among its relatives.Despite the impressive size (up to twenty meters) and impressive weight (up to twenty tons), it is not the heaviest sea animal. Representatives of this species live in the southern and northern seas. Northern individuals are much larger.
This gray-brown giant, covered with whitespots, the location of which is unique for each individual, lives about seventy years. They feed, filtering plankton and filtering the water. For a day the shark skips 350 tons of water and eats more than two hundred kilograms of plankton. In the mouth of this "fish" can accommodate up to five people, her jaws are covered with fifteen thousand small teeth.
But these inhabitants of the depths are never the first toattack a person, and many scuba divers even touch them. Whale sharks have been little studied and very slow. Their number is small, so the species is listed in the Red Book.
Sperm whale - toothed whale
Another very large, but not the heaviestanimal. The weight of an adult male is about seventy tons, and the length of his body reaches twenty meters. The shape of the sperm whale's body (in the form of a drop) allows him to make long journeys in a short time (during the migration period).
Sperm whales, unlike whales, are kept in groupsup to 150 animals. The representative of the species has a huge rectangular head, compressed at the sides. It is the third part of the whole body of the whale. Below is the mouth with teeth of a conical shape. In these animals, the lower jaw is mobile and can open almost 90 degrees, which helps to capture a fairly large prey.
Spermacetal whales (sperm whales) have one breath,located in front of the head. It is slightly biased to the left. Feed on sperm whales with cephalopods and fish. But at the same time they can attack seals, dive to the bottom for squid, crabs, sponges and mollusks, descending to a depth of more than 400 meters.
Blue whale - the heaviest animal
Это действительно самое крупное животное на нашей planet. The length of the body reaches thirty meters, and the mass of the blue whale is 180 tons or more. In this species of whales, females are slightly larger in size than males.
It is difficult to imagine, but the language of this seaThe giant weighs about 2.7 tons, which is comparable to the weight of an Indian elephant. The blue whale has the largest among the mammals in the heart: it weighs 900 kilograms. To imagine its size, look at the Mini Cooper car. By size and weight, they are quite comparable.
The heaviest animal in the world has an elongated andpretty well-proportioned body. On the huge head are disproportionately small eyes. The pointed muzzle has a wide lower jaw. A blue whale has a breather, from which, when exhaled, it releases a water fountain, reaching a height of 10 meters. Before the breathing there is a well-marked longitudinal crest - the so-called breakwater.
This giant has a dorsal fin, stronglyshifted backwards. In comparison with the size of the body, it is rather small and has the shape of a triangle. The back of its edge is covered with scratches, forming a pattern that is individual for each whale.
Physiological features
The smell and sight of a blue whale are developedrather weakly. But the sense of touch and hearing is fine. Representatives of this species of whales have a huge volume of lungs, and the amount of blood exceeds eight thousand liters. Despite its impressive size, the blue whale has a narrow throat with a diameter of only ten centimeters. The pulse of this huge animal is 5-10 beats per minute and rarely increases to 20 strokes.
Кожа голубого кита ровная и гладкая, за excluding bands on the belly and throat. These animals practically do not overgrow with crustaceans, which often settle on other whales in huge quantities. The color of the animal is predominantly gray with a blue tinge. The head and lower jaw are usually painted in a darker and more saturated gray.
