Who is the fastest, most dexterous, most intelligent among animals? And what are the records among plants? Learn from this article!
The largest animal in the world
The record holders among animals in size are blue whales. The blue whale, or, as it is also called, vomited, is not just the largest and heaviest modern animal. It is likely that this huge mammal is the largest animal of all that has ever lived on earth. The length of his body can reach 33 meters, and weight exceeds 200 tons. The heart of a whale is the size of a car, and the tongue is from an adult elephant.
Despite such an impressive size, whales feed on small cephalopods, fish, crustaceans, krill, plankton. The exact life expectancy of giants is not known for certain. But a whale can live for a long time - about 80-90 years, and the oldest registered whale survived to the venerable age of 110 years.
Due to the uncontrolled capture of blue giants, there are not so many left on our planet - no more than 10 thousand individuals.
Centenarians
How many oldest record animals have lived? Everyone knows that some species of birds and fish can exist for more than a hundred years. The sea urchin of the Red Sea is able to cross the bicentenary. To date, the oldest mollusk is considered to be an individual whose age at 405 years was determined by the rings on the shell.
Another fantastic long-lived is the Arctic sponge. This animal leads an attached lifestyle and grows very slowly. A large individual was found, whose age is estimated from 15 to 23 thousand years!
But this figure is not the limit. The species of Turritopsis Nutricula jellyfish is potentially immortal! Having reached maturity, this amazing animal again turns into a polyp, from which new jellyfish will form in the future. This metamorphosis continues indefinitely, which means that death from old age does not threaten a jellyfish.
The largest land animal
Animal world champions, elephants, are the largest land creatures living on the planet at the moment. The weight of the male can reach 7 tons, and height - 3.5 meters. Elephants are not only remarkable for their size, they are also one of the most intelligent animals.
An example of the high intelligence of elephants is the fact that they are able to recognize their reflection in the mirror. This is an indicator that these animals have self-awareness, self-image, their own "I". In addition to humans, only highly developed species of monkeys and dolphins recognize the reflection in the mirror.
Elephants can use improvised tools, that is, in fact, weapons of labor. For example, these mammals can take branches to brush off flies. No stranger to giants and creativity. Elephants can draw and have a good ear for music.
The smartest animal
Several animal species claim the title of the most intelligent, but nevertheless the chimpanzees are closest to humans. Gifted individuals can learn sign language and even write short phrases on it. They have a sense of humor, are able to use words in a figurative sense, and even create new concepts based on well-known ones. Chimpanzees understand the speech addressed to them. These are the most photogenic record animals. Photos of these monkeys can be seen in many collections of original and amazing pictures.
These amazing animals in nature use primitive tools - sticks, leaves, stones - and can combine 2 tools. Chimpanzees smash nuts with stones and use thin sticks to extract kernels, they can sharpen sticks with their teeth and use them for hunting.
Tallest animal
What do the tallest animals look like? Growth champions are giraffes. Males can reach a height of 6 meters and a weight of 1.2 tons, with almost one third of the length of the neck.
The step of this magnificent animal is 6-8 meters. In order for blood to supply oxygen to the giraffe’s brain, he needs a strong eight-kilogram heart muscle. The animal has high blood pressure and thick blood, and its arteries have thick walls and are equipped with a valve system.
A giraffe can get delicious leaves from the upper branches of trees, but it’s hard to drink, you have to kneel down. These giants sleep while bending their flexible neck and resting their heads on the croup. Due to their high growth and sharp vision, giraffes can see danger at a distance of two kilometers. They can defend with front hooves and run at a speed of 60 km / h.
The fastest animal
What is the fastest record animal? The cheetah is capable of locating a speed of 65 km / h in just two seconds and reaching a speed of 130 km / h in a short distance. He catches up with one jump and instantly kills with a precise bite in the neck. After the meal, the beast leaves the carcass, as it is not able to protect it from other predators.
The cheetah is a flexible, slender animal. These graceful cats are not shy, not prone to aggression towards humans and often resemble dogs in their behavior. Cheetahs are tamed. Spotted sprinters communicate with each other with the help of soft yapping and soft tweets that resemble birds.
Smallest mammal
Record animals can be tiny. A pig-bearing bat is often called a bumblebee mouse. This tiny mammal really resembles an insect in size. The body length of the mouse barely reaches 3 cm, and the weight is 2 grams.
The nose of the animal looks like a small patch, hence the name of the species. These babies live in Myanmar and Thailand, are rare. The animals live in groups in calcareous caves. They are nocturnal and eat insects.
Smallest bird
Tiny record animals often resemble insects. So, a hummingbird is compared either with a butterfly or with a bumblebee. This tiny bird weighs 1.6 g, and its body has a length of 5.7 cm. The crumbs fly lightning fast and can reach a speed of 80 km / h. Their wings move so fast that you can hear a buzz. Hummingbirds feed on floral nectar.
Plant champions
Records of the animal and plant world are able to surprise. The tallest tree currently existing is the sequoia Hyperion. The height of this giant is 115.5 meters. It is higher than a thirty-story house! And the age of the tree is estimated at 700-800 years.
The clonal colony of aspen-shaped poplar in the USA “Pando” is recognized by scientists as the largest living organism on the planet. It's all about the features of poplar breeding. The tree has a developed root system, and another trunk, a clone of the original tree, can grow from the root. And there are already 47,000 such clones in the grove, all of them are genetically identical and have a single root system. The approximate age of Pando is 80 thousand years, and the total weight exceeds 6 thousand tons.
Today, the oldest tree is 4845 years old. This is a spinous intermountain pine named Methuselah, native to California. The spinous pines are about 10 meters high, their trunks and branches are distorted, and the bark is often absent. Methuselah also suffered greatly from tourists who tried to take away a branch or a piece of bark with them. Now the exact location of the tree is kept secret.