The heaviest animal in the world. How much do the blue whale, elephant and hippopotamus weigh?

Among animals, as, indeed, among people, there are record 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 of the most difficult animal in the world . If you ask passers-by on the street, which particular 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 considerably exceeds parameters of competitors. You will learn how much the elephant and hippopotamus weigh, and whether they can be considered the heaviest. First we will get acquainted with some giants who live on land.

Bear Kodiak

This is not the heaviest land animal, but I 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 the 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 carnivore, living on land. The largest polar bear weighed a little more than 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) a huge white bear lived on the earth, the weight of which exceeded 1.2 tons, and the size - four meters in length.

hippo

This is one of the largest and most severe animals that live on Earth. The weight of large males often exceeds four tons, so the hippopotamus is worthy of competition with the rhinoceros in the struggle for the second largest among the terrestrial inhabitants.

Now the hippopotamus in natural conditions is 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 did not exceed 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 huge damage to the animal population.

African elephant

This is the heaviest animal in the world, living on land. 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 mobile, swims well and feels confident even on a rocky terrain. African elephants are animal herbivores. They feed on young shoots of trees and shrubs, grass. In a day, an adult takes up to 100 kilograms of green mass. Animals form small herds of 9-14 individuals. In addition to man, in nature, elephants have no enemies.

Knowing how much an elephant and behemoth weigh, different types of bears, 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 white spots, the arrangement of which is unique for each individual, lives for about seventy years. They feed, filtering plankton and straining 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 to attack a man, 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 Data Book.

Sperm whale - toothed whale

Another very large, but not the heaviest animal. 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, in contrast to whales, are kept in groups of up to 150 animals. The representative of the species has a huge rectangular head, compressed at the sides. It makes up a third of the whole body of the whale. Below is the mouth with teeth of a cone-shaped shape. In these animals, the lower jaw is mobile and can open almost 90 degrees, which helps to capture a fairly large prey.

Spermacetian whales (sperm whales) have one breathing, located in the 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

This is really the largest animal on our 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's hard to imagine, but the language of this sea 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 and rather slender 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 strongly displaced backwards. In comparison with the size of the body, it is rather small and has the shape of a triangle. The back edge of it is covered with scratches, which form an individual pattern for each whale.

Physiological features

The sense of smell and vision of a blue whale is rather weak. But the sense of touch and hearing is wonderful. 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.

The skin of the blue whale is smooth and smooth, with the exception of the bands on the belly and throat. These animals practically do not overgrow with crustaceans, which often settle on other whales in huge numbers. 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.