ANIMALS THAT ARE LARGER THAN YOU REALIZE
Added on: 7th Aug 2016
GREAT WHITE SHARK
The great white shark is famous for its intimidating size,
with mature individuals growing up to 6.4m (21ft) in length,
while there have been reports of great white sharks
measuring over 8m (26ft), about twice the height
of an average truck.
BOTTLENOSE DOLPHINS
Cute, super smart, and extremely friendly; the bottlenose
dolphin is associated with a general feeling of amicability.
The sight of them jumping out of the water and doing
silly stunts is relatively common on TV and the internet and
it is perhaps the reason why it’s so hard to visualize their
impressive size. However, a bottlenose dolphin can range
from 2 to 4 metres (6.6 to 13.1ft) and can weigh anywhere
between 150 to 650 kilograms (330 to 1,430lb). If you swim
next to these guys, they will be over twice your size
(or more if you are a short person).
SPERM WHALE
Sperm whales are considered to be the largest toothed
whales in the world. Adult males grow to be about 50-60ft
(17-20m) long and weigh about 40-50 tons (36-45 tonnes),
which means that a Boeing 737-800 with a max take-off
weight of 75 tons, couldn’t carry two of these beasts.
HIPPOPOTAMUS
Hippos are rotund animals with the distinct title of being the
third largest living land mammals, after elephants and
white rhinos. They can grow anywhere between 10.8 to 16.5ft
(3.3 to 5 metres) long and weigh up to 3 tons. That’s
roughly about the length and weight of a Hummer H2.
LION
Widely known as the “king of the jungle” (don’t really know
where this title came from since they’re normally found in
grasslands and open woodlands), a mature male lion can
exceed 250 kg (550lb,) that’s about the weight of
two men like Brock Lesnar.
OSTRICH
Ostriches usually weigh anywhere between 63 to 145 kilograms
(139–320lb), about as much as two adult humans. They are
known for their powerful, long legs which help them cover
10 to 16ft (3 to 5 metres) in a single stride. These big legs
can also be formidable weapons since the ostrich’s kicks
can kill a human or even a potential predator like a lion.
BURMESE PYTHON
The Burmese python is one of the three largest species of
snakes in the world. They average about 3.7m (12.1ft) long but
there has been reports of some reaching lengths of up to
5.74m (18.8ft). Yep, that’s longer than most trees
you see in your neighbourhood.
LIGER
The hybrid cross between a male lion and a female tiger, the
liger is the biggest of all known extant felines. An average
male stands (hind legs) at almost 12ft tall. Just to give you an
idea of how tall this is, an average house story is about
10ft (accounting for an 8ft ceiling and 2ft of
infrastructure space).
BLUE WHALE
At 30 metres (98ft) in length and 180 tonnes (200 short tons) or
more in weight, the blue whale is the largest extant animal
and possibly the heaviest known to have existed, including
dinosaurs. Just for comparison’s sake, the blue whale is
about two city busses long and weighs 10 times as much.
Now every time you see two city busses parked next to each
other, you can think to yourself, ” Wow, that’s about
the size of a blue whale.”
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