The Largest Organisms Ever

August 19, 2010 | Featured, Nature
4.
Birds

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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.

5.
Amphibians

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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.

6.
Plants

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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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  • Bantham

    The largest living mammal is the Blue whale not the African Bush Elephant, unless whales are not mammals. The african bush elephant may be the largest LAND animal but not the largest mammal!

  • Jhonny

    Hm, no fish? How about the Whale Shark.

    And concerning the plants, I miss the Pando from Utah. That would also be the single largest living being known to man.

    Btw, HOW can you lose a fossil from the largest dinosaur ever?

  • Frank N. Blunt

    Forgot about coral and fungus.

  • Cllovegren

    wtf? how is an elephant bigger then a whale? your information prove the whale is bigger.

  • anonymous

    ASIANS CAN ACTUALLY READ MINDS!!!!!!!!!
    they can hear and see what your visually thinking

    the reason alot of asians have completely expressionless faces, only associate with asians and dont associate with non asians very much is to avoid accidentally revealing that they can read read minds, if all over a billion asians were to show facial expressions all the time just as much as non asians, associate with non asians much more, and be much more friendly and talkative, then alot of them might accidentally reveal that they can read minds by accidentally showing a facial expression or dirty look when someone thinks, or visually pictures something in their mind they dont like or find astonishing or funny, and if they were all to associate with non asians alot more there would be alot more people around for them to accidentally show facial expressions when those other people think things they dont like, so they only associate with asians so there wont be anyone around for them to see that and have any accidents happen in the first place

    think about it, its  not normal how alot of them act, and the entire way they act is all to hide their mind reading abilities, it makes perfect sense to do all of that to hide that they can read minds, because all of that is the perfect way to do it!
    every single asian on the planet is hiding their mind reading abilities, they value hiding their mind reading abilities more then their own lives!
    thats why nobody knows about it!

    try thinking, best yet visually picturing in your mind something something absolutely crazy as you possibly can when you are around asians, and try looking for asians who give people particular looks, especially dirty looks for what appears to be for completely no reason, that is them giving people looks when they hear and visually see someone thinking something they dont like, find funny or astonishing
    it still happens despite a large number of them having completely expressionless faces all the time, it would just happen alot more if none of htem had completely expressionless faces all the time, its not uncommon!

    i know this sounds crazy, impossible, and completely unbelievable, BUT IT ISNT CRAZY WHEN ITS TRUE

    you have to spread the message!!!
    the world has to know about this!!!!

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