What animal is bigger than an elephant?

Elephants are the largest land mammals on Earth. An Elephant can weigh up to 6 tonnes and is about 2.5 meters high at the shoulder and 4.0 meters long, including its trunk. Elephants are found in and around the savannah and grasslands of Sub-Saharan Africa, south of the Sahara. They eat over 100 different species of plants and spend most time of the day eating plants. In the wild, elephants live up to around 70 years of age, but they can live up to 65-70 years in captivity.

The world’s largest recorded land animal was an African Elephant which weighed 21 tonnes. Not bad for an animal that eats plants all day!

But what animal is bigger than an elephant, and how big are they?

The Blue whale

The biggest animal in the world is the Blue whale – a mammal that grows up to 33 meters long (around 100 ft), longer than a bus! But this isn’t enough because blue whales aren’t only the biggest creatures on Earth: they’re the largest animals to have ever lived. 

They eat krill, plankton, and various small fish.

Blue whales can live for over a hundred years! The largest recorded blue whale was 33.5 meters (110 feet) long and weighed 180 tonnes.

This animal is not just bigger than an elephant; it weighs as much as 36 elephants!

Pew, unbelievable.

In case you’re wondering – the following 10 animals who are bigger than an elephant are whales as well.

Whales are the biggest animals in the world.

1. Blue Whale (Balaenoptera musculus) – 33–34 m LWL, 178 tonnes. The largest animal that ever lived and the largest living mammal as of 2012. The maximum recorded length is 35 m (114 ft.).

2. Fin Whale (Balaenoptera physalus) – 27–28 m (89–92 ft), 72 tonnes: Second largest living mammal, second only to the blue whale as of 2012.

3. Humpback Whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) – 25–27 m (82-88 ft.), 50 tonnes: Third largest living mammal, third only to blue and fin whales as of 2010.

4. Sei Whale (Balaenoptera borealis) – 23–24 m (75-80 ft.), 34 tonnes: Fourth largest living mammal, fourth only to blue, fin, and humpback whales as of 2012.

5. Blue Whale – 20–22 m (66-72 ft), 36 tonnes: Fifth largest living mammal, fifth only to blue, fin, humpback, and sei whales as of 2012.

6. Minke Whales (Balaenoptera acutorostrata) – 15–17 m (50-56 ft), 16 tonnes: Sixth largest living mammal, sixth only to the blue whale as of 2012. Seventh if the pygmy sperm whale is considered.

7. Sperm Whales (Physeter macrocephalus) 15–17 m (50-56 ft), 21 tonnes: Seventh largest living mammal, seventh only to the blue whale as of 2012. Eighth if the pygmy sperm whale is considered.

8. Pygmy Sperm Whale (Kogia breviceps) – 12–15 m (39-49 ft), 10 tonnes: Eighth largest living mammal, eighth only to the blue whale as of 2012. Ninth if the pygmy sperm whales are considered separately from the larger sperm whales, and tenth if dwarf sperm whales are included in this group.

9. Dwarf/Pygmy Sperm Whales (Kogia spp.) – 9–11 m (29-36 ft), 3 tonnes: Ninth largest living mammal, ninth only to the blue whale as of 2012.

10. Basking Shark (Cetorhinus maximus) – 10–12 m (33-39 ft), 5 tonnes: Tenth largest living mammal, tenth only to the blue whale as of 2012. Eleventh if dwarf/pygmy sperm whales are considered separately from the larger sperm whales and twelfth if dwarf sperm whales are included in this group.

There’s one land-living mammal bigger than an Elephant!

It’s a rhino.

But not one of those, you know! Today’s rhinos are the biggest land mammals after elephants, but there’s been an animal called Paraceratherium – an extinct genus of rhinoceros. 

These animals lived 34 – 22 million years ago and are thought to be the heaviest land mammals to have ever lived. 

This animal had a shoulder height of 4.8 meters (15.7 feet) and a length of 7.4 meters (24.3 feet), with an est. weight 15 to 20 tonnes (33,000 to 44,000 lb).

Now, these are some big animals! 

But the largest land animal that ever lived and wasn’t a mammal is thought to be Argentinosaurus: This dinosaur weighed 80 tonnes (176,000 lb) and was at least 12 meters (39 feet) long! It lived during the Late Cretaceous (100–66 million years ago).

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