Blue whales are the largest animals ever known to have lived on Earth. These magnificent marine mammals rule the oceans at up to 100 feet long and upwards of 200 tons. Their tongues alone can weigh as much as an elephant.
The largest animal known ever to have lived is confirmed to be the blue whale (Balaenoptera musculus). The maximum recorded weight was 190 tonnes for a specimen measuring 27.6 metres (91 ft), whereas longer ones, up to 33.6 metres (110 ft), have been recorded but not weighed.
Dubbed Patagotitan mayorum, the long-necked behemoth lived about 102 million years ago and was likely more than 120 feet long and weighed 69 tons, or about the same as 12 African elephants (the current largest land dweller).
The Megalodon weighs in at upwards of 50-70 tons, measuring a span of up to 60-70 feet in length. By contrast, the Blue Whale tips the scale at around 100-110 tons and tops lengths of up to 100 feet. Who Wins on Size? It's pretty obvious that the Blue Whale is the bigger apex predator in this fight.
Dreadnoughtus schrani is a newly discovered species of dinosaur and the biggest titanosaurian sauropod dinosaur found so far. It is the largest land animal who's body mass can be accurately calculated.
According to the BBC Science Focus, the smallest animal in the world is the Etruscan shrew. The Etruscan shrew, also known as the white-toothed pygmy shrew or Suncus etruscus, is located in North America.
Spinosaurus: Largest prehistoric predator was 'water-loving' dinosaur which swam to hunt fish. Spinosaurus, the biggest known predatory dinosaur, was a "water-loving" carnivore that swam after its prey while fully submerged, according to new research.
At the end of the last ice age, 10,000 years ago, many North American animals went extinct, including mammoths, mastodons, and glyptodonts. While climate changes were a factor, paleontologists have evidence that overhunting by humans was also to blame.
Paleontologists working in China have discovered a new species of giant rhino, the largest land mammal ever to have walked the earth. Giant rhino, Paraceratherium, were mainly found in Asia, according to a press release from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, published Friday.
Being larger can provide many evolutionary advantages—bigger animals are less vulnerable to predators and can compete more assertively for resources. The existence of bigger herbivores also means that carnivorous animals have to grow in order to be effective hunters.
Is the megalodon still alive? 'No. It's definitely not alive in the deep oceans, despite what the Discovery Channel has said in the past,' notes Emma. 'If an animal as big as megalodon still lived in the oceans we would know about it.'
Animals with no natural predators are called apex predators, because they sit at the top (or apex) of the food chain. The list is indefinite, but it includes lions, grizzly bears, crocodiles, giant constrictor snakes, wolves, sharks, electric eels, giant jellyfish, killer whales, polar bears, and arguably, humans.
The Daily Star reports that scientists have discovered that the largest beast to have roamed the Earth on land or water was the terrifying 115ft-long ichthyosaur. Experts have dubbed the huge beast a 'super-predator' due to its jaw-dropping size.
Almost every living creature on the planet has at least the strength to support its own body and move around. One exception to this is the jellyfish that is one of the weakest animals. Have you ever seen a jellyfish washed up on the beach? Its body or bell becomes flattened with no water to support it.
But if you're after gargantuan creatures, chartering a boat is better than building a time machine — the largest animals to ever exist are whales, topped off by the truly titanic blue whale. Maxing out at almost 100 feet long and 190 metric tons, the blue whale dwarfs the competition.
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In the latest film, Godzilla purportedly measures a staggering 119 meters tall; but the largest-known animal to ever exist on Earth is the Blue Whale, and these marine mammals are only known to grow up to 30.5 meters in length – just a quarter of the size of Godzilla.
Orcas take down a blue whale, proving they're the apex predators of the ocean. While killer whales are known to attack blue whales, John Totterdell and his colleagues are the first to ever document a successful takedown. And they've done it more than once, publishing their findings in the journal Marine Mammal Science.
Megalodons succumbed to global cooling due to the shrinking of their habitat, the vanishing of their favorite prey, and competition from other predators 3.5 million years ago.
The Antarctic blue whale (Balaenoptera musculus ssp. Intermedia) is the biggest animal on the planet, weighing up to 400,000 pounds (approximately 33 elephants) and reaching up to 98 feet in length.
With a stomach volume of almost 10,000 litres, the results suggest that the megalodon was capable of eating prey up to 8 meters long – whole! This means that today's top ocean predator, the killer whale, could have been eaten whole by this ancient sea monster.