For four of the five species of the heaviest animals, the main habitat is water. The aquatic environment reduces the force of gravity, gives room for movement, provides nutrition to a huge organism.
However, all heavyweight champions originate from land ancestors.
Fifth place - southern elephant seal
Fifth place among the most severe representatives of the planet is occupied by the southern elephant seal (Mirounga leonina) - pinniped sea predator, a mammal from the seal family. The population lives off the coast of Antarctica. An adult male weighs an average of 2-4 tons, the mass of the largest elephant seals reached 5 tons. Females of this species of seals differ markedly from the stronger sex - they are tiny, weighing only 900 kg.
Sea elephants spend the lion's share of life in water; they go ashore only in spring - during the period of molting and mating. Fights of males take place at rookeries: to the sounds of a menacing roar, tons of fat collapse, bones crack. Sea elephants are born weighing half a centner, and in a month their weight increases threefold. Mothers leave the young and go to sea for food. Sea elephants learn to survive on their own, almost 80% of young animals become prey for white sharks and killer whales.
And adult seals 10 months of the year migrate seals across the ocean, feeding fat. They feed on krill - plankton shrimps, crabs, fish.In search of food, they can go down to a depth of 800 metro, while under water for about half an hour, they pop up for breathing for only 2-3 minutes. Southern elephants live only 20-23 years.
Fourth place - hippo
In March 2018, the last white male rhinoceros died in Kenya, leaving no posterity. Representatives of this species of terrestrial mammals weighed up to 4-5 tons and were inferior in weight to only elephants. Now the 4th place among the heaviest animals belongs hippopotamus, mature male hippos weigh 3-4 tons, the weight of graceful females is up to 1.5 tons. The most interesting thing is that the close relatives of the hippos are not the pigs they resemble most of all.
Recent studies have proven the genetic affinity of hippos with ... whales. In addition to common genes, they have similar signs: hippos, like whales, are born and fed by females in the aquatic environment; among all mammals, only two of these species have the ability to make and capture sounds underwater. Scientists suggest that they have a common ancestor, who was a land animal that gradually mastered the aquatic environment.
Hippos spend most of the day in fresh water; they go ashore for food only at night. When diving, they walk for 10 minutes along the bottom of the reservoir, then pop up to breathe air. Hippos feed on grass (but not algae), eat 40-70 kg of feed per day, their stomach has a capacity of up to 500 liters, and a bowel length of 60 meters, so plant food is digested better in hippos than in other artiodactyls.
Further 3 km from the water they do not graze.Hippos live up to 40 years, by this time their molars are erased to the base. Despite the clumsy appearance, hippos are very dangerous animals, this is described in our article: unexpectedly dangerous animals.
Third place - African elephant
African elephant - the heaviest mammal living outside water bodies. The mass of elephants in the savannahs of Africa is 7.5 tons, and the largest specimen weighed over 12 tons (elephants in the Indian jungle weigh only 5.4 tons). What is the difference between an African elephant and an Indian one is described in our article here. Most of the life - 15-20 hours a day - elephants eat, per day they absorb up to 300-450 kg of plant foods and drink 100-300 liters of water.
Baby elephants at birth have a weight of 120 kg, they live with their mother, feed on her milk for a year and a half. At this time, elephants are in danger from lions, crocodiles, hyenas. Elephants live up to 70-80 years, in old age they feed on softer marsh vegetation.
Second place - sperm whale
Sperm Whale - Toothed Whale - weighs an average of 50 tons, large 100-ton males have a body length of up to 20 meters. A raging sperm whale is a danger to humans, wounded animals killed many whalers and sank their ships. Sperm whales live throughout the oceans, migrate in herds of hundreds and thousands of heads, feed on mollusks, huge squids with tentacles 15-18 meters long and weighing several centners.
In search of food, sperm whales are able to dive to a record depth of 2 km and hunt for 1.5 hours. For exhalation, they rise to the surface for 10 minutes, often breathe, releasing fountains of water.Sperm whales live 50-60 years.
The heaviest animal in the world
Blue whale - the heaviest animal in the world, the grand creation of nature. Its mass can reach 150 tons, and the body length is 33 meters, but in the water such a huge frolic frolics like a graceful fish. The giant's heart weighs 600 -1000 kg and beats with a rhythm of 5-10 beats per minute, driving 8 thousand liters of blood through the veins. The four-ton tongue of the blue whale is a treat for predatory killer whales, which flock the animal to a depth and do not allow it to go upstairs for a sigh.
The whale itself feeds on small crustaceans collected in schools - krill. He eats up to 8 tons of krill per day - 1 million kilocalories. The feeding period lasts 3-4 months - the rest of the time the animal uses its fat reserves. Blue whales live 80-100 years.
Heavy animals have few natural enemies, and the main culprit in reducing their numbers has been and remains man.
