Largest Creatures To Ever Exist On Earth. Size Comparison

If you enjoy dinosaurs, prepare to discover the answers to these questions and more.

Largest animal ever existed on Earth

The battle for the title of the largest dinosaur to ever walk the Earth continues. We discover more evidence of these prehistoric giants as time passes. We're not just talking about herbivorous dinosaurs, but also carnivorous ones.

How large were the largest sauropods, and could these giants have fallen prey to the fierce carnivores of their time? Could the powerful Giganotosaurus or the enormous and terrifying Spinosaurus defeat a Tyrannosaurus-rex? And could the T-Rex have been 70 percent bigger than previously believed?

If you enjoy dinosaurs, prepare to discover the answers to these questions and more.

Blue whales are larger than dinosaurs

The blue whale evolved from a four-legged mammal that lived on land 48 million years ago. It was only 1.8m long and evolved into a completely aquatic creature called Dorudon 37 million years ago.

Dorudon's nostrils moved back from its snout to the top of its head, its forelimbs became stiff flippers, and its tail evolved into two rubbery flukes.

1. Deep breath!

Blue whales can dive for up to an hour at a time and exchange between 80 and 90 per cent of oxygen in their lungs each time they breathe.

2. Can you hear my heart beating?

The blue whale's four-chambered heart beats once every 10 seconds, pumping 220 litres of blood through its body.

3. Skin deep

A blue whale's skin is bluish-grey and has between 80 and 100 long grooves running along its throat and chest.

6. Big mouth

Their mouths are big enough to house 100 people, and they eat up to 6,000kg of krill a day.

7. Turning up the heat

Blue whales reach sexual maturity between five and 10 years of age and have the biggest penis in the animal kingdom.

8. Thirsty babies

Blue whales are placental mammals and their foetus grows quickly in the uterus of the mother. The calf is born tail first at 12 months and weighs about 2,700kg.

9. Population counts

Blue whales are now an endangered species and are hunted for their meat, oil, and other valuable body parts.

The Biggest Animals That Have Ever Lived on Earth

Key Points:

The largest animals to ever inhabit the earth were elephants, polar bears, blue whales, and aquatic scorpions. The Shastasaurus was the largest marine reptile, and the Argentinosaurus was the largest dinosaur.

If you've ever seen an elephant or giraffe up close, you know they are massive, but some of the animals which have roamed this planet would make even the elephant look minuscule in comparison.

Jaekelopterus

A scorpion that lived 460 million years ago was nine feet long and had an average weight of a similar range to humans.

Elephant

The largest herbivorous land mammal currently alive is still the elephant, which can reach heights of 12 feet and weigh up to 12,000 pounds.

Polar Bear

These bears aren't actually white, their fur is clear and their skin is black.

Chinese Giant Salamander

The Chinese Giant Salamander is the largest amphibian currently alive and lives underwater and breathes through their skin.

Spinosaurus

The Spinosaurus was the largest land predator that ever walked on Earth. It was about 60 feet long, 12 feet high, and weighed at least 13 to 22 tons.

Paraceratherium

The Paraceratherium was a herbivore that was 16 feet high and 24 feet long. It weighed nearly 45,000 pounds and used a prehensile upper lip or trunk to pull leaves from trees.

Patagotitan mayorum

Patagotitan mayorum was a titanosaur that lived about 100 million years ago and measured over 120 feet long from head to tail. It weighed 75 tons and was as heavy as a space shuttle.

Argentinosaurus

The Argentinosaurus was discovered in Argentina in the 1980s, and may have weighed as much as 20 tons.

There is one almost mythical dinosaur that could beat out the Argentinosaurus if more evidence is found, but the fossils have since disintegrated.

#1 Biggest Animals Ever to Walk the Earth: Blue Whale

The Blue Whale is the largest mammal ever on Earth, and has the biggest heart out for any other mammal in the animal kingdom. It can weigh as much as 200 tons, and is listed as endangered by the World Wildlife Fund.