Want to know which are the largest animals in the world? The animal kingdom is a vast realm of specimens of all kinds: big and small, tough and delicate, carnivores and herbivores, dangerous and endangered. For this particular countdown we chose to rank the largest animals to inhabit this planet and we took into account every aspect that large encompasses, including weight, length, and height.
Make sure you check out our list on the World’s Most Famous Animals and find out which are the beastliest celebrities right now.
Are you curious about the largest animals in the world? Let’s take a look at the impressive countdown.
10. Chinese Giant Salamander
With a length of 180 cm and a weight of around 65 kg, the Chinese giant salamander is the largest amphibian on Earth right now. Since the 1950s, the population of this animal has declined significantly by more than 80%. The conservation status of the Chinese giant salamander is classified as critically endangered, and the causes behind this include overhunting, pollution, and habitat loss.
9. Giraffe
This well-known African mammal is the tallest living terrestrial animal and the largest ruminant too. Giraffes are very elongated and their necks are the most striking thing about them; they can be over two meters long, which is a significant part of their full height (somewhere between five and 6 meters).
8. Great White Shark
The great white shark is one of the largest animals in the world and probably one of the scariest ones. This enormous predator can grow to be over 6 m long and weigh more than 3000 kg. Only threatened by the orca, the great white shark is known to have attacked humans on several occasions.
7. Southern Elephant Seal
The southern elephant seal is a ferocious carnivore and one of the largest animals on this planet. There’s a significant difference in size and weight between male and female specimens: male southern elephant seals weigh about three times as much as females. In fact, the largest known male specimen weighed 5,000 kg and was almost 7 m long.
6. Saltwater Crocodile
Also known as the Indo-Pacific crocodile, the saltwater crocodile is the largest living of all reptiles and also one of the world’s biggest animals. Males can weigh up to 2,000 kg and reach a length of almost 7 m, and their size is a great advantage when it comes to hunting their prey.
5. Green Anaconda
This South American giant boa is the largest and heaviest snake known so far. It can reach a length of over five meters and it weighs between 30 and 70 kg –depending on the specimen itself. The green anaconda is a non-venomous species, but when it comes to getting their prey, which can range from fish and birds, to mammals and other reptiles, there’s little that this snake cannot overpower.
4. African Bush Elephant
The African bush elephant is the heaviest land animal in the world, which naturally makes it one of the largest species on this planet. Males can weigh up to seven tones and their gigantic tusks are even bigger than those on Asian elephant species. Although this animal is enormous and really intimidating, they are herbivorous and rarely hostile to humans unless they feel threatened.
3. Colossal Squid
Even bigger than the giant squid, the colossal squid is the largest of its kind in terms of mass and also the largest known invertebrate so far. Although little is known about this animal, (the first discovery of an entire specimen was in 1981) the squid’s habitat has been proved to be the circumantarctic Southern Ocean.
2. North Pacific Right Whale
The North Pacific right whale is an endangered species that has been heavily affected by commercial whaling. These sea giants can be as large as 18 m and weigh up to 80,000 kg. At the moment, it is very unlikely to find a North Pacific right whale in the wild and observe it.
1. Blue Whale
The largest animal on Earth –or should we rather say in the sea- is the blue whale. It can be as long as 30 m and weigh up to 190 tones. Unfortunately, the blue whale is an endangered species that was almost brought to extinction by whalers until the sixties, when the international community decided to protect and preserve them.