Top ten biggest Animals

Top 10 Biggest Animals

Animals take many shapes and forms and come in a great diversity of sizes, from microscopic to the 30 m long blue whale! Whether you measure in terms of weight, height or length, there is no denying some animals are huge in comparison to others in their class.

10. Goliath Beetle

Hiding in the undergrowth of African tropical forests, Goliath Beetles take the top spot as the heaviest insect in the world! They weigh up to 3.5 ounces (100 g), grow to a length of 4.5 inches (11.5 cm) and are brown/black/white in colour.

9. Chinese Salamander

The Chinese Giant Salamander is the largest living amphibian, weighing up to 140 lbs (64 kg) and growing to a length of 6 ft (1.8 m) long. Having changed little from their ancestors, they are known as living fossils, but despite their fascinating nature, they are endangered and rare in the wild.

8. Ostrich

The Ostrich is the largest living bird, with a height of 9 ft (2.7m) and weight of 344 lbs (156 kg), and at 1.9 in (5 cm) in size, their eyes are the largest of all land mammals. They don’t have teeth and can survive without water for days as they can make their own water internally and extract the rest from the vegetation they eat! 

7. Saltwater CrocodileCrocodile

The largest living reptile is the Saltwater Crocodile, growing to an average length of 17 ft (5.2 m), although they can reach 21 ft (6.3m) in length and weigh up to 21 US tons (1,900 kg). They are distributed widely in brackish and fresh waters in parts of India, Asia and Australia and feed on all animals they can get their teeth in to, which includes sharks if they get the chance

6. Whale SharkShark

Heading underwater, the largest living fish is the 40 ft (12 m) long Whale Shark. Weighing up to 24 US tons (22 tonnes), they are an impressive sight, but despite their size, they feed mostly on tiny plankton. Present in tropical seas around the world, whale sharks are considered venerable and are hunted in some areas

5. Brown Bear

The position of largest living land carnivore is shared between Brown Bears and Polar Bears. Weighing a whopping 907 kg (1 ton) and reaching up to 10 ft (3 m) tall when standing on their hind legs, they’ve definitely earned their spot as the biggest. While you’ll find Brown Bears in the forests and mountains of North America, Europe and Asia, you need to head further north to the Arctic Circle to catch a glimpse of Polar Bears, who split their time between the sea and ice and feed mostly on seals. 

4. Giraffe

At a height of 19 ft (5.8 m), the Giraffe is the tallest living animal on earth; the neck alone is 6 ft (1.8 m) tall. At home in grasslands of East Africa, they feed mostly on vegeatation high off the ground, using their long prehensile tongues to pull young shoots and leaves from the trees. Babies are born after a 15 month gestation period and are already 2 m tall!

3. African ElephantElephant

The largest living land animal is the African Elephant which can weigh up to 6,350 kg (7 tons); they typically grow to 35 ft (10.6 m) from trunk to tail and have a shoulder height of 13 ft (4.2 m). There are at least two species, the savanna elephant and the forest elephant, and they currently cited as venerable in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.

2. Colossal SquidSquid

The size of the colossal squid is often exaggerated, with viral posts on the internet saying they can reach 60 ft (18 m) or even 90 ft (27 m) in length! However, the largest squid documented was 45 ft (14 m) long. They have the largest eyes in the animal kingdom, reaching 10 in (25 cm) in diameter!

1. Blue WhaleWhale

The Blue whale is the largest animal of all time, reaching a weight of about 198 US tons (180 tonnes) and a length of 98 ft (30 m). Their tongues alone can weigh as much as an elephant and their hearts as much as a car, yet they survive by eating a diet rich in tiny plankton.

world smartest animals

World smartest animals

In case you hadn't heard, humans aren't the only intelligent beings on planet Earth. In fact, we have plenty of company, and you may be surprised to learn who else is on the list.

Ten of the Most Intelligent Animals on Earth

10. Octopuses
Octopuses have the largest brains of any invertebrate. The common octopus has about 130 million neurons in its brain. A human has 100 billion. However, three-fifths of an octopus' neurons are not in the brain; they're in its arms. Each arm has a mind of its own, so to speak, and if cut off (which the octopus can regrow), will wander away and even grab at food as it did while still attached.

 9. Pigs

According to some experts, pigs are among the smartest, cleanest domestic animals around – more so than cats and dogs. (The reason pigs roll around in mud isn't because they like to be dirty, but because they don't have sweat glands and the mud helps them cool off.)

Researchers who have studied pigs have learned they have excellent long-term memories, solve mazes easily, can comprehend a simple symbolic language, love to play and play-fight with each other, can learn to operate a joystick to move an on-screen cursor, and use a mirror to find hidden food.4
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 8. Pigeons

Studies show that pigeons are able to learn abstract mathematical rules, and in fact are the only non-humans other than rhesus monkeys with the ability. These much-maligned birds also have the ability to make extremely intelligent choices, and have highly evolved pigeon problem-solving skills.

Pigeons are also able to recognize individual people, most likely by their facial characteristics.

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The 15 most deadliest animals

These Are The Top 15 Deadliest Animals on Earth

Humans aren't even number one.

The world's deadliest animal isn't a shark or even a human. Drawing from a graphic from Bill Gates' blog, we decided to rank the world's deadliest animals.

Most of the deaths caused by animals, it turns out, have less to do with the animals themselves than the diseases they unwittingly transmit.

Note that some numbers are harder to get an accurate read on than others, so these are for the most part rough estimates - sometimes very rough. And the list is representative of different kinds of deadly animals, but it's by no means comprehensive.

Here are some of the animals responsible for the most human deaths. The scariest predators aren't as dangerous as you might expect - but don't underestimate the little guys.

15. Sharks: 6 deaths a year
Shark attacks are pretty rare. In 2014, there were just three deaths globally related to shark attacks, and in 2015, there were six, which is about the average. 

14. Wolves: 10 deaths a year

Wolf attacks are not common in many parts of the world where wolves live. 

A review of wolf attacks found that very few happened in the 50 years leading up to 2002 in Europe and North America, though there were a few hundred reported over the course of two decades in some regions of India, averaging out to close to 10 per year.

13. Lions: 22+ deaths a year

Estimates for lion-related deaths also vary year-to-year. A 2005 study found that since 1990, lions have killed 563 people in Tanzania alone, an average of about 22 a year.

Additional deaths likely occur outside of Tanzania, but it's difficult to find a concrete global number. 

12. Elephants: 500 deaths a year

Elephants are also responsible for a number of deaths per year - a 2005 National Geographic article said that 500 people a year are killed in elephant attacks. 

Far more elephants have been killed by people.

11. Hippopotamuses: 500 deaths a year
For a long time, hippos were considered the most deadly animal in Africa. Hippos are known for being aggressive toward humans, including tipping over boats.

10. Crocodiles: 1,000 deaths a yearyear
Crocodiles are now considered the large animal responsible for the most human deaths in Africa, according to the Food and Agricultural Organisation of the United Nations, though concrete numbers are tricky to gather.

9. Tapeworms: 700 deaths a year
Moving to parasites, the tapeworm is responsible for an infection called cysticerosis that kills an estimated 700 people a year. 

 8. Ascaris roundworms: 4,500 deaths a year

The Ascaris roundworm leads to an infection called aschariasis that kills an estimated 4,500 people a year, according to a 2013 study.

The WHO notes that the infection takes place in people's small intestine, and it's a disease that affects more children than adults.

7. Freshwater snails: 20,000+ deaths a year

The freshwater snail carries parasitic worms that infect people with a disease called schistosomiasis that can cause intense abdominal pain and blood in the stool or urine, depending on the area that's affected.

Millions of people contract the infection, and the WHO estimates that anywhere between 20,000 and 200,000 deaths can be attributed to schistosomiasis. 

 6. Assassin bugs: 12,000 deaths a year

The assassin bug, also called the kissing bug, is responsible for carrying Chagas disease, which kills about 12,000 people a year on average. 

Chagas disease is a parasitic infection passed by the bug, which got its nickname by biting people on the fact. 

5. Tsetse flies: 10,000 deaths a year

The tsetse fly transmits a disease called sleeping sickness, a parasitic infection that at first can lead to headaches, fever, joint pain, and itchiness, but later can lead to some serious neurological problems. The number of deaths has been decreasing.

With about 10,000 new cases now reported each year, the estimated number of annual deaths is likely on the decline as well.

4. Dogs: 35,000 deaths a year

Dogs - specifically dogs infected by the rabies virus - are one of the deadliest animals out there, though the virus can be prevented using vaccines.

About 35,000 deaths can be attributed to rabies, and of those cases, 99 percent are caused by dogs, according to WHO.

3. Snakes: 100,000 deaths a yearyear

Snake bites kill more than 100,000 people a year as of 2015. Worse still, there's a troubling shortage of an essential antivenom

2. Humans: 437,000 deaths a year

According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, there were about 437,000 homicides in 2012, making humans the second most deadly animal (and the deadliest mammal) to humans.

We are not quite our own worst enemy - but we're pretty close.

1. Mosquitoes: 750,000 deaths a year

Mosquitoes - the pesky bugs that suck blood and transmit viruses from person to person - are responsible for the most animal-related deaths.

Malaria by itself is responsible for more than half of mosquito-related deaths, predominantly in sub-Saharan Africa, though it's on the decline: The incidence of malaria fell by 37 percent between 2000 and 2015, according to the World Health Organisation.

Dengue fever, another mosquito-borne disease, has become a leading cause of hospitalisation and death among children in some Asian and Latin-American countries.

Top 10 fastest animals worldwide

  TOP 10 FASTEST ANIMALS

Some animals are perfectly designed to be the ultimate speed machines.

Some of these fly through the air, others swim through water and some run on land. Most of the fastest animals are birds so our list below includes a selection of the fastest of all these different types of animals. Here are 10 of the fastest animals in the world.

10. Brown Hare

The Brown Hare’s long back legs enable them to reach speeds of 77kph (48mph), the same speed as their predator the red fox.

9. Blue Wildebeest
The Blue Wildebeest, Springbok and Thompson’s gazelle can all run at about 80kph (50mph) which almost exactly matches the top speed of a lion.

8. Marlin
Marlin can swim at 80kph (50mph), just beaten for the title of the world’s fastest fish by the super speedy Sail Fish.

7. Pronghorn Antelope

The Pronghorn antelope is the second fasted land animal and at 98kph (60mph) can out-sprint predators.

6. Sail Fish

The sail fish is easily the world’s fastest fish, speeding through the water at 110kph (68mph)!

5. CheetahCheetah

The cheetah is skilled at running down fast prey and can reach a top speed of 113kph (70mph).  That’s three times faster than the top running speed for a human which is about 36kph (22mph)! Cheetahs have a skill that no other big cat has

4. Spur-Winged Goose

The Spur-Winged Goose is the world’s largest goose and can fly at 142kph (88mph).

3. Frigate Bird

The frigate bird’s speed of 153kph(95mph) is helped by having the largest wingspan to body weight ratio of any bird. They are able to stay aloft for more than a week at a time!

2. White Throated Needletail

The White Throated Needletail (also known as the Spine Tailed Swift) is the fastest bird in powered flight, with a top recorded speed of 171kph/106mph!

1. Peregrine Falcon

The Peregrine Falcon is the fastest bird, and in fact the fastest animal on the planet, when in its hunting dive, the stoop, in which it soars to a great height, then dives steeply at speeds of over 322kph (200mph). It reaches horizontal cruising speeds of up to 90 kph (56mph).