To equal the weight of a African elephant we would have to put about 130 people on a huge scale (average weight 62 kg). Yet we wouldn’t even be on the podium of the heaviest animals on the planet. To understand who the giants that populate our planet are, we must look at them mainland but above all in oceanswhere water allows animals to reach dimensions unthinkable in the savannah, forests or tundra. The top step is occupied by blue whale with his 190 tons in weight followed by other marine giants such as fin whale and the sperm whale. The elephant mentioned at the beginning only reaches fifth position with his 7 tons. Here are the top 10.
The heavyweights of the animal kingdom
Blue Whale – 190 tons
There blue whale (Balaenoptera musculus) is a cetacean that can reach 33 meters in length and 190 tons weight. It is a marine mammal that populates seas all over the world except the Arctic. There Blue Whale it feeds on krill (small marine crustaceans) thanks to the baleen – laminar structures that act as a sieve. Fin whales live a long time, even over 90 years, and every year they undertake long migrations. Consider that your heart weighs as much as a small car.
Fin whale – 80 tons
On the second step of the podium we find the fin whale (Balaenoptera physalus), the only mysticete (cetacean with baleen) present in the Mediterranean. An adult eats up to 2 tons of food per day and when he emerges to breathe, his breath is powerful, vertical and high up 6 meters. The puppies weigh 2 tons already at birth.
Sperm whale – 50/60 tons
The sperm whale (Physeter macrocephalus)It’s the biggest toothed predator of the planet, with a marked sexual dimorphism: males reach i 18-20 meters in length and the 50-57 tonswhile the females are much smaller (about 11-12 meters). It lives in the deep waters of all the oceans and dives into the abyss – up to 3,000 meters deep – to feed almost exclusively on calamari (including giant ones), octopuses and bottom fish. To find prey and orient themselves in this hostile environment they use an echolocation system.
Whale shark – 30 tons
The swhat a whale (Rhincodon typus) is the largest fish in the worldwith an average length of 12 meters but capable of reaching i 18-20 meters. He lives in all tropical and warm temperate waters of the planet (it is absent in the Mediterranean) and, despite its colossal size, it is a filter feeder that feeds by sucking in enormous quantities of water to capture planktonsmall shrimps (krill) and schools of small fish.
African elephant – 7 tons
THE’AndAfrican elephant (Loxodonta Africana) is the largest terrestrial animal living, with a weight of up to 7 tons and a shoulder height that can exceed 3 meters. Lives in ecosystemsSub-Saharan Africafrom rainforests to arid savannas, and is a voracious herbivore that consumes more than 130 kg of roots, herbs, fruit and bark every day. They have enormous ears that serve to disperse body heat and have long tusks that they use to dig for food and water and strip bark from trees. African elephants live in groups led by females, especially the largest and oldest matriarch.
Asian elephant – 5 tons
In 5th place is a relative of the African elephant, theAsian elephant (Elephas maximus) which reaches the 5 tons in weight and, like its cousin, reaches 3 meters in height at the shoulder. It inhabits tropical forests and fragmented grasslands 13 Southeast Asian countries (from India to Indonesia) and consumes approx 150kg of vegetation and approximately 189 liters of water.
Elephant seal – 4 tons
From land elephants we move on to those that populate the seas, the sea elephants (Mirounga). There are two species of this huge animal (northern and southern), but it is the southern one (Mirounga leonina) to have the largest dimensions, with males reaching i 6 meters and the 4 tons of weight. However, the name does not derive from its size but from its trunk-shaped snout. They live in colonies and gather on coasts to breed, but spend much of the year in open sea (from California to Antarctica, depending on the species), diving to great depths to hunt squid and fish.
Hippopotamus – 3.5 tons
Returning to the continent, eighth place in the rankings is occupied by thepopotami (Hippopotamus amphibius). The largest males of these semi-aquatic mammals reach the 3.5 tons. Hippos, which populate the banks of rivers and lakes in sub-Saharan Africa, feed mainly at night when they come out of the water to graze, consuming up to 40-50 kg of grass.
White rhino – 2.5 tonnes
Staying in Africa let’s move on to rwhite inoceros (Ceratotherium simum). These pachyderms can weigh up to 2.5 tons and inhabits the open prairies and savannahs of southern and eastern Africa. Rhinos reach this large size by feeding almost exclusively on short grass.
Giraffe – 1.5 tons
In 10th place we find an animal certainly better known for its height than for its weight, the giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis). In addition to reaching 6 meters vertically, adult males of this species weigh approximately 1.5 tons. They live in tree-lined savannahs and African bushlands and use their long prehensile tongue to eat leaves (especially acacia), shoots and fruit directly from the treetops.
