
The largest living bird on Earth right now is the flightless ostrich, which can stand at nine feet tall and weigh 345 pounds. It should come as no surprise then that ostriches lay the biggest eggs in the world, weighing in at three pounds. Of course, they are not the largest birds ever. The elephant birds of Madagascar stood at 10 feet tall and weighed 1,120 pounds. The last of the elephant birds died just three centuries ago. Even they are not the tallest birds ever, that title is reserved for the Giant Moa, a bird that went extinct only 200 years ago. They stood at 12 feet tall but weighed half of what the elephant bird did. The largest carnivorous bird was Brontomis, which stood at nine feet tall and weighed 880 pounds when it roamed through South America.

The largest amphibian alive today is the Chinese Giant Salamander, which grows to six feet long and weighs as much as 140 pounds. The largest extinct amphibian though was Prionosuchus, which grew to 30 feet long.
Frogs are not to be outmatched by the salamanders though. The largest frog in the world is the African Goliath Frog, which grows to a size of 14 inches long and weighs 8.4 pounds. The largest living toad in the world is the Cane Toad, but the extinct Beelzebufo Ampinga could grow to 16 inches long, and weight up to 10 pounds.

As can be expected, some of the largest organisms to ever live have been trees and plants. They grow to immense sizes because they can live so long, and often they tower over the largest of animals. The largest single-stem plant is the Giant Sequoia. These trees grow to about 280 feet in height on average, and can be as much as 23 feet in diameter. Some of the largest specimens have pushed 307 feet high though. The Coast Redwoods do not grow as large in volume, but they do grow taller, often pushing 379.1 feet in the air. To put that in contrast, the Blue Whale, the largest of all animals alive today, would only weigh one-sixteenth what this tree would.
When you think about the immense heights and weights many of the world’s largest organisms get to, it really makes you feel rather small in comparison. Yes, humans can grow to eight feet high in rare cases, but redwoods grow to 300 feet high! Yes, humans can push 800 pounds in some cases, but elephant babies weigh as much as an adult man at birth!
Author: Craig Baird — Copyrighted © roadtickle.com
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