Mammal record breakers
Mammals come in a staggering variety of forms
and have mastered almost every habitat on Earth.
They walk, run, swim, burrow, and fly, and one
species, our own, has even been to the Moon.
LIVING WORLD
African savanna elephant
Loxodonta africana
■ Weight 6½ tons (6 metric tons)Hog-nosed bat
Craseonycteris thonglongyai
■ Length 1¼ in (30 mm)Giraffe
Giraffa sp.
■ Height 17½ ft
(5.3 m)Blue whale
Balaenoptera
musculus
■ Length 100 ft
(30 m)The world’s smallest mammal
is also known as the
bumblebee bat. It weighs
about half as much as a
cube of sugar.The biggest mammal
on land reaches full
size at about 20 years
of age, but its tusks
keep on growing.The tallest
mammal’s long
legs and neck
allow it to reach
leaves on high
branches.Mountain gorilla
Gorilla beringei
■ Weight 440 lb (200 kg)
Compared to
the size of its
body, a male
gorilla has the
longest arms of
any mammal.
Ringed seal
Phoca hispida
■ Length 4¼ ft (1.3 m)With a body that is 50 percent fat after
feeding on its mother’s fatty milk, a ringed
seal pup is the fattest wild mammal.Humans (species Homo sapiens)
are mammals from the great
ape family. We can live to
around 125 years, but the
worldwide average is
66 years. We inhabit
every continent
except Antarctica,
making us
the most
widespread
mammals.Human beings
?50436665903096