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Several months ago
I created a video explaining the different sizes
of sea creatures that currently exist. While impressive
I didn't talk about the sizes of land creatures at all
Which will be the focus of this video
Standing 4m tall and weighing up to 6000kg
The African Elephant is the largest land animal
that currently exists. For scale
an average human stand 1.6m tall
and weighs 62kg, yet
the African elephant is considered a tiny creature
when compared to the titans that once
roamed the earth even though this first creature was smaller than the African Elephant, the Anthripornis
still looks unsettling when compared next to a human.
As the largest penguin known to ever exist,
the Anthripornis stood at 1.8m tall and
weighed 90kg. A large number
of other creatures that currently exist today had WAY
bigger and more terrifying ancestors that used to
live on our planet, for example, take any rodent
today and compare them to Josephartagsia monesi
an alarming creature which can grow up to
3m in length, stand 1.5m
tall and weigh up to 1 ton
That is almost the weight of a full Toyota
Corolla in the form of what is essentially a
rat, yet arguably the most terrifiying
creature to have ever existed was the
A gigantic snake that lived millions
of years ago in modern South America, known to grow
up to 12.8m long and weigh up to
1135kg
This snake can consume a human in just
ONE GULP, safe to say, I'm pretty glad that this thing
doesn't exist anymore. The largest arachnid to ever
exist was a creature called
A scorpion-like creature that could grow up to
70cm LONG!! Yeah,
A pack of this things would not be a very welcome sight.
But a single Sarcosucnus would be equally as
terrifying. This creature was the largest
crocodile to have ever existed. Known to have grown
up to 12m in length and weigh a ridiculous
8 TONS!!! It would take more than
6 Toyota Corolla to depict it's
mass. Though frightening, this beast is far
from the largest Carnivore to have ever existed.
The T.Rex often comes to mind when we think of
history's largest Carnivore.
But this title really belongs to the
Measuring a terrifying 15m long and
weighing up to 21t
Paleontologist John R. Horner remarked
So while the Spinosaurus holds the record
for being the largest Carnivore, it is not the largest
land creature in history. That distinction has to go
To the aptly named
Measurements taken from a confirmed specimen revealed
that at least one of these creatures grew to an impressive
length of 37m and weighed
69 TONS!!! Which is the equivalent of about
12 fully grown African Elephants!!!
Compared to a human, the size of this ancient creature
truly epic!!! Which has lead scientists to
estimate that the Titanosaur grew to the
maximum size that biology will allow
land creatures to get to on earth!!! For instance,
if you take any creature on earth and increased it's size
somehow, it's mass would increase by a power
of 3. The width of the creature body meaning its muscles
and bones, would only increase by a power of 2.
Therefore, the larger the creature is,
the more mass needs to be dedicated to bones
in order to support it. Because of this law,
and the effective gravity on earth, it is extremely
unlikely that a land creature has ever existed
that weighed over 100 tons
Meanwhile, the ocean plays by a different
set of rules. The impact on size that gravity has
on the earth's surface is not affected in the ocean by
Buoyancy. So, unlike their counterparts on land,
creatures in the ocean don't have to prop up
all of their own weight. Which is how you end up with a colossus
like the Blue Whale
At 181 TONS!!!
The largest creature known to have ever existed.
But even this titan is likely
approaching the largest possible size of an Ocean
Creature. The problem is no longer Gravity, but
food and energy consumption.
The Blue Whale has to consume 3600kg
of Krill every single day just to meet
it's daily calorie needs. That's the same as about
16700 Big Macs!!!
For just 1 whale. Anything larger
would have to consume even more food. And the
the larger it gets, more difficult it becomes to find that food.
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Subtitles: Thomas Martinez