What is the largest mammal in the world? The largest representative of mammals

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:55

The most-most mammals - who are they? Mother Nature has many amazing mysteries and facts. It only at first glance seems that you can learn about everything and know everything. No, it's impossible, just like it's impossible to read all the books. Because the more a person makes discoveries, the more new, much more complex tasks the Universe sets before him. The question of what is the largest mammal in the world is no longer relevant - every preschooler knows about it. But nevertheless, reading something new about the amazing creation - the blue whale - is always interesting.

So the legends say

In ancient times, when people sincerely believed that the end of the earth exists, as there are jealous and vengeful gods, when food was obtained by hunting and fishing, our distant ancestors treated nature and animals with great respect.

Knowing almost nothing about the representatives of the fauna, they invented wonderful tales, which, thanks to amazing poetry, entered the golden fund of culture and art. The largest representative of mammals, the blue whale, often became the hero of these tales. Often he was assigned the role of a kind of chthonic monster, which is of great importance in the structure of our world. So, for example, one of the Arab legends says that the Bahamut whale, plowing the expanses of the ocean, holds the Kuyutu bull on its mighty back, which, in turn, supports a huge ruby rock. An angel stands on this rock, and it is his job to keep an eye on what is happening in the world.

Sea monsters

I would like to note that the ancient navigators called the whale not only, in fact, the largest mammal in the world, but, in general, any inhabitants of the deep sea, the size of which inspired both panic horror and involuntary admiration.

Several medieval treatises are known about the so-called giant octopus, whose hobby was capsizing ships and boats and devouring sailors. The same "horrors" were told about the whale, and a little later, the peoples of Scandinavia had several interesting stories about "good" and "evil" sea giants. The evil ones, who hate sailors and fishermen, did nothing but sail the seas and oceans in search of people, and when they found them, they had no mercy … But the good ones, on the contrary, tried to protect the person, and, if possible, help to bring the ship to a safe place.

Also of interest is the legend of how a certain Benedictine monk, traveling in search of the "Promised Land", sailing along the Atlanticocean, noticed a wonderful island. Having made a prayer, the monk descended to what he thought was the ground, built an altar there, and offered up prayers to God. And already after, together with his team, the monk sailed for a decent distance, the "island" stirred, and … just sailed away. A noteworthy fact is that among medieval Christian theologians, the whale was considered a symbol of the "father of lies" himself, but Muslims are still confident that the largest mammal on Earth is among the ten lucky ones living in paradise.

The most, most, most…

Modern scientists, who have long doubted that the blue whale is the titan of the animal world, recently discovered a real giant, whose weight is as much as 200 tons, and the size is more than thirty-four meters, which is equal to the height of a nine-story building. Is it not such a hulk seemed to the unlucky monk a "mysterious island"? By the way, the heart of a whale weighs about a ton - 700 kilograms, and the tongue - 4000 kilograms.

Interesting facts

The blue whale is not only the largest mammal in the world, but also the most mysterious. Until now, scientists really do not know anything about these amazing creatures, which, of course, only fuels interest in them. In particular, the scarcity of information is due to the fact that whales live in the open ocean, and it is quite difficult to observe their behavior.

However, not so long ago, a team of scientists managed to capture the amazing moments of feeding these animals, as well as how they release their legendary fountains. As it turned out, releasing a jet about fifteen meters high into the air, the whales breathe. They feed near the water surface, and their main diet is krill - the smallest representative of the fauna world. A funny paradox - the giant of the animal world eats "dwarfs"!.. In order to exist normally, whales need to eat about four million krill, therefore it is not surprising that they spend a lot of time hunting.

Entertaining Features

The largest mammal in the world has truly unique characteristics. So, for example, these massive, powerful creatures are surprisingly graceful and even graceful. Effectively diving to a depth of more than a hundred meters, they can stay there for an hour or more, and swim at a speed of 42 kilometers per hour. The low, strange sounds they make underwater are approximately 188 decibels. For comparison: the most powerful aircraft "talk" with an intensity of 140 decibels.

Sentient beings

Not so long ago, researchers made an interesting discovery: it turns out that the largest mammal in the world is also one of the smartest. The intelligence of the blue whale inspires respect, as for his speech, here all those who are engaged in observations simply shrug. It is still impossible to decipher the "talks" of blue whales, and now it is only known that their "singing" is much more complex, and, if I may say so, meaningful, than was thought a few years ago. There are whales in the "speech"there are many word-like elements that are very similar to human sentences. Surprisingly, these "sentences" are constructed in such a way that informative phrases can be heard if desired. Communicating, the whales look for a spouse, lost children, notify the water world of their presence, and warn the enemy about their readiness to attack.

And what else?.

With whales, everything is clear, although, speaking in fact, almost nothing is clear. Huge, peaceful, mysterious, infinitely wise - they will always attract the minds of scientists and just nature lovers. But to unravel the mystery of these amazing creatures is hardly possible. And what are the largest mammals in the world?

Probably, the championship should be given to the mighty African elephant, whose dimensions reach 8 meters in length and 3.3 meters in height. The weight of this land titan is approximately 6 tons. This animal has no natural enemies, but little elephants, of course, are defenseless against hyenas, leopards, lions and crocodiles. But it should be borne in mind that elephants jealously protect their children, and there are practically no chances for predators to eat elephant calves … So the most dangerous enemy of elephants has been and will be only man.

In addition to the whale, the land elephant has another waterfowl competitor - the southern elephant seal, which is currently considered the largest carnivore. The size of these creatures reaches threemeters, and the weight is 4000 kg.

The largest mammals are always of great interest to those who love and appreciate nature. Watching these creatures, it is impossible not to think that our world, if people wish, can become a real paradise on earth…