The Living World · 2016-10-27 · A LL ANIMALS have prehistoric ancestors whose fossil remains are found in ancient rocks. Scientists studying these fossils can work out when each

by David Lambert

RECORDBREAKERS

The

LivingWorld

RBs Living World all.qxb:RBs Living World NEW 30/10/08 17:03 Page 2

© 2008 Orpheus Books Ltd

Illustrations by Mike Atkinson(Garden Studio), Janos Marffy,David Wright (Kathy JakemanIllustration), Shane Marsh, DavidMore (Linden Artists), Betti Ferrero(Milan Illustration Agency), TimHayward (Bernard Thornton Artists),John Morris (Wildlife Art Agency),Steven Kirk

Created and produced by NicholasHarris and Joanna Turner, OrpheusBooks Ltd

All rights reserved. No part of thisbook may be reproduced, stored ina retrieval system, or transmitted inany form or by any means,electronic, mechanical,photocopying, recording orotherwise, without the priorpermission of the copyright owner.

ISBN

Printed and bound in China

THE EARLIEST ANIMALSFirst of Their Kind � TheFirst Mammal

THE GREATEST DINOSAURSLargest-Ever Land Animals� Parade of the Giants

THE TALLEST ANIMALSTHAT EVER LIVEDThe Long-Necked Sauropods� High Browsers

THE LARGEST SKULLDinosaur Record Holders� Sprint Champion

GIANTS OF THE PASTIndricotherium, the GiantRhinoceros� Mammal Giants

THE FIRST HUMANSOur Earliest Ancestors � TheFirst Traveller

THE HUMAN BODYAnatomical Record Holders� The Tallest and the Shortest� Giraffe Necks

THE LARGEST ANIMAL THATEVER LIVEDThe Incredible Blue Whale� A Blue Whale Calf

20

18

10

16

14

12

8

6 THE LARGEST FISHGiants of the ocean

LARGEST ON LAND......And in the Air

THE SMALLEST ANIMALSPictured at Actual Size� Miniature Record Holders

THE LARGEST INSECTSGiants of the Mini-BeastWorld

THE FASTEST......And the Slowest� Stooping to Conquer

THE LONGEST-LIVED...Nature’s Senior Citizens� Long-Lived Reptiles

REALM OF THE DEEPThe Deepest-Living OceanAnimals

OCEAN TRAVELLERSThe Longest Journeys� A Bird of Two Summers

36

34

32

22

30

28

2624

THE LARGEST FLOWERThe Mysterious Rafflesia� The Smallest Flower� The First Flower

INDEX

44

46

I N T R O D U C T I O NAT LEAST 275,000 KINDS OF FLOWERING PLANTS are alive today.

There may be as many as 10 million kinds of animals.Thousands, perhaps millions more, died out long ago. Among

these teeming numbers, a few stand out from the rest because theyare, or were, the largest or smallest, or special in some other way.Have you ever wondered – if you could hold a competition among allliving things – which ones would win the prizes?

This book gives many of the answers. Here you will discover that theheaviest whale, the blue whale, can weigh as much as 1800 people, yetit would take more than a dozen of these giant animals to outweigh agiant sequoia tree, the heaviest living thing on Earth. You will comeacross a living tree older than the pyramids of Egypt, and a mammalthat can dive three kilometres beneath the surface of the ocean.

Here are the greatest and smallest dinosaurs, the biggest-ever landmammals, the tallest animals that ever lived, and the tallest andshortest peoples. Here, too, are the speediest creatures on Earth, theanimals that make the longest journeys around the world, and thosethat live to the greatest ages.

Welcome to the record breakers of the living world!

C O N T E N T S

OVERLAND TRAVELLERSLong-Distance Specialists� Arctic Overlanders

THE RAREST ANIMALSCreatures Closest toExtinction� A Success Story? �

Precarious Pond-Dwellers

THE TALLEST TREESNature’s Skyscrapers42

40

38


ALL ANIMALS have prehistoric ancestors whosefossil remains are found in ancient rocks.Scientists studying these fossils can work out

when each living group of animals appeared. Over thethousands of millions of years since life began, thefossil history tells us, animals have – very gradually –changed: for example, they have grown a fin or a tail,developed wings or lost teeth. We call this processevolution. When a new kind of animal has evolved, anolder one may die out, or become extinct.

Jellyfish-like creatures, among the very earliestfossils, appeared about 600 million years ago. Fifty

million years later, the seas teemed with shellfish,worms and animals with jointed legs. Later still,

eel-like beasts with bony teeth appeared. Thesewere probably the ancestors of fishes, theearliest-known backboned animals.

By about 400 million years ago, fisheswith lungs and fleshy fins began to movearound on land. Forty million years on,

these animals had evolved into the firstfour-legged backboned creatures, the

amphibians. These animals could liveon land but they returned to thewater to lay their eggs. It took afurther 80 million years for the firstbackboned animals to live and breedon land – the reptiles – to evolve.The illustrations are not drawn to scale

One of the earliest-knownbirds was Archaeopteryx.This crow-sized creaturehad feathered wings andwas probably able to fly.But its teeth, claws andbony tail were like those ofa small flesh-eatingdinosaur. Archaeopteryxlived in Germany about150 million years ago.

Ichthyostega (right)was one of the earliestfour-legged animals.This amphibiancrawled through warm,swampy forests thatexisted in Greenlandabout 360 millionyears ago.

Eoraptor was one ofthe first dinosaurs, atwo-legged flesh-eating beast no biggerthan a large dog.Eoraptor hunted smallreptiles. It lived 228million years ago inArgentina.

The small reptileEuparkeria (right)might have been thefirst animal to walk ontwo feet. It lived insouthern Africa 240million years ago.

Arandaspis, one of thefirst known fish, lived480 million years ago.It had no fins andcould not shut itsmouth.

Eusthenopteron wasone of the first fish tobreathe with lungs anduse fins as legs to helpit move about.

Waterproof skin andwaterproof eggs madeHylonomus (above) athome on land. Thissmall reptile, one ofthe earliest known,lived 320 million yearsago in Canada.

A mammal is an animalwhose females producemilk to feed their young.

The earliest-knownmammals were tiny shrew-

like creatures such asKuehneotherium andMegazostrodon. They lived220 million years ago inthe shadows of the earlydinosaurs, probablyhunting for insects bynight. Megazostrodonlived in southernAfrica, while itsrelativeKuehneotheriumlived in Britain.

THE FIRST MAMMAL

T H E E A R L I E S T A N I M A L S F i r s t o f t h e i r k i n d

6 7


PARADE OF THE GIANTSIf all the reptile record holders weregathered together, this (below) is howthey would compare in size. All thoseshown here, pterosaurs, crocodiles anddinosaurs, belonged to the same group,called archosaurs (‘ruling reptiles’).

BRACHIOSAURUS22 m long 14 m tallLargest dinosaur knownfrom complete skeleton

SIZE COMPARISONS

ARGENTINOSAURUS36 m long 21 m tallLargest dinosaur

DIPLODOCUS27 m long

Longest dinosaurknown from complete

skeleton

SUPERSAURUS40 m long

Longest-ever dinosaur

STEGOSAURUS9 m long

Largest plated dinosaur

T H E G R E A T E S T D I N O S A U R S

Most dinosaurs are known only from a fewbones, so experts have had to guess justhow big these creatures were. It depends

on whether the measure is height, length orweight. The only fact upon which everyone isagreed is that the dinosaurs were certainly thelargest land animals that ever lived.

The heaviest and tallest dinosaur known from acomplete skeleton was Brachiosaurus (‘arm lizard’).It might have weighed as much as eight Africanelephants. From just a few pieces of bone,scientists have now been able to identify an evenlarger kind, called Argentinosaurus. This giantplant-eater lived in South America about 100million years ago.

The longest dinosaur was Supersaurus (‘superlizard’).With its snaky neck, whip-like tail and hollowed-out bones, it was probably lighter than someshorter, but more heavily built, dinosaurs.

TYRANNOSAURUS REXLength: 12 m

Weight: up to 6.4tonnes

Diplodocus

Recently discovered fossil bones ofSpinosaurus suggest that it was thelargest of all the flesh-eatingdinosaurs, larger even thanTyrannosaurus rex. The long spineson its back probably had a skincovering, forming a kind of sail.

Deinosuchus (‘terriblecrocodile’) was acrocodile more thantwice as long as thelargest kind ofcrocodile alive today.

The illustrations areapproximately to scale

8 9

Argentinosaurus

Supersaurus

Quetzalcoatlus

StegosaurusSpinosaurus

Blue whale

Brachiosaurus

Quetzalcoatlus (‘featheredserpent’) was a skin-wingedflying reptile, a pterosaur withthe wingspan of a microlightaeroplane.

QUETZALCOATLUSWingspan 12 mLargest-ever flying

creature

SPINOSAURUSLength: 18 mWeight: up to 9

tonnes

L a r g e s t - e v e r l a n d a n i m a l s

DEINOSUCHUS15 m long

Longest-knowncrocodile


HIG

HBR

OW

SERS

Ifth

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orld

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est?

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ffe,

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imal

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day.)

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herium

(see

page

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anAsian

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gian

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ods,

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amen

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SUPERSAURUS

12m

Longest

dinosaur

THE

TALL

EST

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inth

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orld

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Theillustrationsareapproximatelytoscale

BRACHIOSAURUS

14m

Tallestanimal

knownfroma

completeskeleton

GIRAFFE5.5m

Tallestliving

animal

MAMENCHISAURUS

Morethan15m

rearing

Longest-necked

animal

DINORNIS

MAXIMUS

3.7m

Tallest-ever

bird

T H E T A L L E S T A N I M A L S T h e l o n g - n e c k e d s a u r o p o d s

INDRICOTHERIUM

7.3mTallest-ever

mammal

10 11


T H E L A R G E S T S K U L L

From fossil bones found in the rocks,scientists have worked out whichdinosaurs were special in various ways.

This illustration shows five kinds of dinosaursthat held a record of one kind or another.Torosaurus had the largest head of anyanimal that ever lived on land. The longestclaws yet found belonged to Therizinosaurus.Dromiceiomimus, with its long, thin legs,might have been the fastest running dinosaur.The smallest-ever dinosaur was, manyscientists believe, Compsognathus. Troodonand its relatives were probably the mostintelligent of all the dinosaurs.

The illustrations are approximately to scale

This eight-year-oldchild (right) gives anidea of the sizes of thedinosaurs.

SPRINT CHAMPIONDromiceiomimus (‘emu mimic’) was a bird-likedinosaur, built on similar lines to an ostrich.With its long shins it could have taken very long,fast strides. If it were alive today this dinosaurmight have outrun an ostrich, which sprints atup to 65 km/h (see page 72). Dromiceiomimuslived in south-west Canada 75 million years ago.

Compsognathus(‘elegant jaw’, bottom,centre) was a quickhunter. Just 75 cm long,it was little bigger thana chicken.Compsognathus lived inEurope 150 millionyears ago.

13

Horned Torosaurus(‘bull lizard’, below)had a massive skull,about the size of asmall car. Measuredfrom its beak to theback of its neck frill itwas 2.6 m long. Thisplant-eating dinosaurlived in North America70 million years ago.

Troodon (‘woundingtooth’, bottom left) had abigger brain for its bodysize than perhaps anyother dinosaur. This agilehunter was as intelligentas birds and even somemammals – an opossum,for example. It lived in thesame time and place asDromiceiomimus.

Therizinosaurus (‘scythelizard’) was named after itsthree huge finger claws(left). The longest claw’scurved outer edge was justunder 1 m long.Therizinosaurus, a plant-eater measuring up to12 m long, lived inMongolia 70 million yearsago. It was probablycovered with feathers.

D i n o s a u r r e c o r d h o l d e r s


This monster would have been as heavy as 10living rhinoceroses. From snout to tail,Indricotherium might have grown up to 11 metres– longer than a doubles tennis court is wide. Itstood so tall that a giraffe’s head would onlyreach up to its shoulders (see page 53). Besidesbeing so much bigger than any living rhinoceros,Indricotherium was different in another way:there were no hornson its head.

THE FIRST MAMMALS were no bigger thanshrews (see page 49), yet some of theirdescendants were prehistoric rhinoceroses,

elephants and other animals which weighed severaltonnes. Being big gave these giant animalsadvantages. They could browse on leafy twigs toohigh for smaller creatures to reach, while their sizeand tough hides protected them from the teeth andclaws of carnivores – although some of them (likeAndrewsarchus) had grown massive, too.

The largest land mammal the world has everseen was a giant prehistoric rhinoceros. CalledIndricotherium, this mighty tree-browser roamedAsia about 30 million years ago. After studying itsfossil bones, scientists at first believed that a livingIndricotherium weighed as much as 30 tonnes. Acloser look showed that Indricotherium normallyweighed ‘only’ about 11 tonnes. Even that wouldmake it twice as heavy as an Africanelephant!

The very largest Indricotheriumprobably grew up to 20 tonnes.

This illustrationcompares an average-size human being withfive giant prehistoricmammals of differentkinds.

ANDREWSARCHUS4 m longLargest-evercarnivorousmammal

MAMMAL GIANTSEach prehistoric land mammal shown here was thebiggest or the heaviest of its kind. Andrewsarchus wasthe largest-known flesh-eating land mammal. Somethinglike a cross between a bear and a hyena, this ferociousbeast lived in east Asia about 40 million years ago.

The steppe mammoth, Mammuthus trogontherii, wasthe largest-ever member of the elephant family. RoamingEurope in the depths of the Ice Ages, its shaggy coatkept it warm in the bitterly cold winters.

Gigantopithecus, the greatest ape, lived in east andsouth-east Asia, also during Ice Age times. Standingabout three metres tall, it would have been as heavy as alarge pony. Early humans might well have met thismonster face to face but Gigantopithecus, a harmlessplant-eater, would probably have left them alone. Somepeople think that Gigantopithecus never became extinct,

but survives to this day in the Himalayas, where it isknown as the Yeti.

Glyptodon was a South American Ice Agemammal related to the little livingarmadillos. Its thick, bony armour probablymade this tank-like creature the heaviest

and best protected mammal of its kind.Glyptodon even had a bony ‘hat’

protecting its head, and bony ringsthat ran around its tail.

The illustrations areapproximately to scale

GLYPTODONShell 2.5 m longMost heavily

armoured mammal

GIGANTOPITHECUSUp to 3 m tallLargest-everprimate

MAMMUTHUSTROGONTHERIIUp to 4.5 m highat the shoulderLargest-everelephant

INDRICOTHERIUMUp to 5.5 m highat the shoulderLargest-ever land

mammal

G I A N T S O F T H E P A S T I n d r i c o t h e r i u m , t h e g i a n t r h i n o c e r o s

14 15


IN 1856 miners found a strange skeleton in alimestone quarry in the Neander Thal (NeanderValley), Germany. The skull was quite ape-like, the

leg bones strong and curved. At the time, somepeople thought that this Neanderthal person hadbeen a soldier who had died in a war about 50 yearsearlier. Scientists later realized they had discovered aprehistoric human who had died 30,000 years ago!

Since then, even older bones have turned upelsewhere. Scientists now believe that humans, apesand monkeys (mammals of the group calledprimates) all share one ancestor. That ancestor mayhave been Aegyptopithecus (‘Egyptian ape’) whichlived in Egypt 35 million years ago.

Thirteen million years later, the first ape-likeanimals wereclimbing trees in East Africa. From theirdescendants came today’s chimpanzee andgorilla – and the now extinctaustralopithecines(‘southern apes’). Askeleton of an

australopithecinewas dug up in Africa in 1974.

Called ‘Lucy’ by the scientists who foundher bones, it probably walked uprightbetween 3.9 and 2.9 million years ago. Itwas the first known, human-like animal: ahominid.

By 2.5 million years ago, the first realhumans, Homo habilis , had appeared.Homo habilis (‘handy man’) could usetools and, perhaps, talk a little. About500,000 years later, little Homo habilishad given rise to a bigger, brainier kindof prehistoric person: Homo erectus(‘upright man’).

Homo sapiens (‘wise man’), the firstmodern human, appeared, it isthought, about 200,000 years ago.They arrived in Europe about 40,000years ago and, for a time, livedalongside the Neanderthals, anotherspecies of humans, who died outabout 30,000 years ago

Aegyptopithecus (above) wasthe earliest-known primatemammal belonging to theAnthropoidea, a group whichincludes monkeys, apes andhumans. Weighing about thesame as a human baby, tinyAegyptopithecus climbed onall fours.

Australopithecusafarensis (‘southernape of Afar’, left) was,perhaps, the firstmember of the humanfamily of primates.Only about 1.2 m tall,it walked on two legs,although it may havespent some of its life inthe trees.

Homo habilis, (below) thefirst creature that couldbe described as ‘human’,lived in Africa about2,500,000 years ago.Standing about the sameheight as Australopithecusafarensis, it had a biggerbrain. It made rough stonetools, and, maybe, simpleshelters.

Neanderthal (right)and modern humansHomo sapiens (farright) lived alongsideone another for 10,000years. Neanderthalsbecame extinct:perhaps they weredriven away fromhunting grounds bymodern humans.

THE FIRST TRAVELLERHomo erectus (‘upright human’)grew to about the same size asmodern humans, but it had juttingbrows and jaws unlike our own. Itmay have been the first fire-user,perhaps the first human hunter ofbig game, and the first hominid tomake the journey from Africa tocooler lands in Asia and Europe.Homo erectus lived 2 million to800,000 years ago.

T H E F I R S T H U M A N S O u r e a r l i e s t a n c e s t o r s

16


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T H E H U M A N B O D Y A n a t o m i c a l r e c o r d h o l d e r s

18 19


THE BLUE WHALE is probably the biggest creatureof all time. The longest reliably recorded specimenmeasured more than 32 metres, nearly one-third

the length of a football field (in this illustration, itruns over six pages!). The heaviest ever caught weighedmore than 190 tonnes. Even an ‘ordinary’ blue whaleis as heavy as more than 1800 people!

Blue whales can grow to this size because watersupports their colossal bodies. On dry land theywould collapse under their own weight, even if theyhad legs instead of flippers. But although blue whalescan never leave the sea, they must come up to thesurface to breathe in air like any other mammal.

The world’s largest animal feeds on a tiny, shrimp-like creature called krill. One blue whale eats aboutfour tonnes of krill every day. It swims open-mouthed,trapping krill on the whalebone ‘comb’ which hangsdown inside its huge mouth instead of teeth.

While blue whales are the largest whalebone,or baleen, whales, sperm whales are thebiggest whales which have teeth. A

A BLUE WHALE CALFA newborn blue whale is as longas a football goal and as heavy asa large hippopotamus. Its lengthdoubles in seven months. By thetime it is a year old its weight hasmultiplied eight times.

sperm whale is shorter and lighter than a bluewhale, with as much as one-third of its length takenup by its enormous head. The sperm whale has twoother records to its name: it has the largest brain ofany animal, and it is the champion mammalian diver(see pages 76-77).

SPERM WHALELength: 21 m

Weight: 70 tonnesLargest toothed whale

BLUE WHALELength: 32 m

Weight: 190 tonnesLargest animal

T H E L A R G E S T A N I M A L T h e i n c r e d i b l e b l u e w h a l e

20 21


T H E L A R G E S T F I S H

Little is known about whalesharks, the largest fish in theworld. They swim, always alone,

in tropical waters, and sightings of them are quiterare. The very largest whale sharks can grow to 15metres long and weigh as much as three Africanelephants. Their broad mouths could engulf twodivers at a time but, happily, these are peacefulgiants, harmless to humans: their tiny teeth are sixmillimetres long. Whale sharks are content to swimalong with their mouths open ready to swallow uphundreds of small fish and shrimps. In fact, theytravel so slowly that sometimes they collide withboats. Usually, it is the boat that comes off worst!

COLOSSAL SQUID12-14 m long

Longest invertebrate

LEATHERBACKTURTLE

More than 96O kgLargest chelonian

22 23The illustrations are approximately to scale

WHALE SHARKLength: 10-15 mWeight: 17 tonnesLargest fish

SOUTHERN ELEPHANT SEALLength: 6.7 m

Weight: 3.63 tonnesLargest seal

G i a n t s o f t h e o c e a n


AFRICAN ELEPHANTS are the largest landanimals alive today. A newborn Africanelephant can be twice as heavy as a fully

grown man, while the heaviest known bull elephantweighed 12 tonnes, or as much as 23 racehorses! Itmay stand four metres high, and grow tusks as longas a small car. Spending up to 20 hours a daysearching for enough leaves to eat and water todrink, one African elephant can drink enough to fill550 tumblers and eat enough to fill 1500 breakfastcereal bowls in a single day.

The illustrations are approximately to scaleOn a pair of scales, onebig ostrich wouldbalance a human familymade up of a man, awoman, and two youngchildren. Besides beingthe largest bird, theostrich lays the largesteggs. Each egg is about20 cm long and asheavy as two dozenhens’ eggs. Sometimesseveral ostriches lay upto 60 huge eggs in onenest.

GIRAFFE5.9 m tall

Tallest land animalPOLAR BEAR1OOO kg

Largest carnivore on land

KORI BUSTARD19 kg

Heaviest flying bird

ESTUARINE CROCODILE8.5 m longLargest reptile

OSTRICH2.7 m tall

Largest living bird

ALDABRA GIANTTORTOISE3OO kg

Heaviest land chelonian

WANDERING ALBATROSS3.7 m wingspanGreatest wingspan

AFRICAN ELEPHANT12 tonnes

Largest land animal

RETICULATED PYTHON10 m

Longest snake

L A R G E S T O N L A N D . . . a n d i n t h e a i r

24 25


SMALL ANIMALS always live in danger of being gobbledup by larger ones, yet being small does have its advantages.The fairy fly can lay its invisibly tiny eggs on top of the

eggs of little insects larger than itself. These become food for thefairy fly’s grubs when they hatch out. A least weasel is slimenough to chase mice down their holes. The tiniest fishes, lizards,mice and shrews can hide in holes or cracks too narrow for theirenemies to enter. The lightweight pygmy mouse lemur canclimb about on twigs that would not bear a monkey’s weight.Agile flyers, tiny bats dart here and there in pursuit of smallmoths, while bee-sized hummingbirds can hover in mid-air tosuck nectar from a flower.

Some animal-like creatures are so small they are invisible.You cannot see them even under a powerful magnifying glass.These mini-beasts are called protozoans, a name meaning ‘firstanimals’. Most animals are made of millions of tiny buildingblocks called cells, but a protozoan consists of just a single cell.Some protozoans are so small that thousands could live onyour thumbnail.

One organism, called a mycoplasma, is the smallest form oflife capable of living by itself. You would have to magnify it10,000 times for it to appear the size of a full-stop on this page!

Even some mothsgrow larger than amale beehummingbird, thesmallest bird. In flight,its tiny whirring wingshum like a bee’s. Beehummingbirds live inCuba and on thenearby Isle of Pines.

This magnifying glassreveals three tinycreatures magnifiedto twice actual size.Dwarf gobies are thelightest of all thebackboned animals.

Fairy flies (magnified1400 times, right) arewasps small enoughto walk through aneedle’s eye.

BEE HUMMINGBIRD5.4 cm

Smallest bird

DWARF GECKO2 cm

Smallest reptileBRAZILIAN SHORT-HEADED FROG

1 cmSmallest amphibian

DWARF GOBY0.8 cm

Smallest fish

FAIRY FLY0.02 mm

Smallest insect

PYGMY MOUSELEMUR20 cm

Smallest primate

At only 2.5 cm long,Kitti’s hog-nosed bat iseven shorter than thepygmy white-toothedshrew without its tail. Apygmy shrew is littlelarger than a big bee,but eats up to four timesits own weight ininsects every day.

PYGMY WHITE-TOOTHED SHREW

6 cmSmallest mammal

KITTI’S HOG-NOSED BAT15 cm wingspanSmallest bat

PYGMY MOUSE7.3 cm

Smallest rodent

MINIATURE RECORD HOLDERSSmallest sea mammal: Heaviside’s dolphin (right)Weight: 40 kg Length: 1.2 m

Smallest marsupial (pouched mammal):Kimberley planigale Weight: 4 gLength: 5.7 cm

Smallest breed of horse: FalabellaWeight: 40 kgShoulder height: 76 cm

Smallest bear: Sun bear Weight: 27 kg Shoulderheight: 70 cm

Smallest wild cat: Rusty-spotted catWeight: 1.4 kg Length: 48 cm

Smallest ungulate (hoofed mammal):Lesser mouse deer (left) Weight: 2 kgShoulder height: 20 cm

LEAST WEASEL18 cm

Smallest carnivore

Least weasels are thesmallest of all meat-eating mammals.Despite their tiny size,these sharp-toothedcarnivores are everybit as fierce as tigers.Many females areonly half the weightof males but they alsoeat mice and voles.Least weasels live inNorth America, andhave close relatives inAsia and Europe.

Pygmy mouse lemursare so light, it wouldtake 6000 of thesetiny primates to weighas much as one biggorilla, the heaviestprimate of all.

At 7.3 cm long,pygmy mice are thesmallest rodents. Itwould take 7000 ofthem together tomatch the weight ofone capybara, thebiggest rodent.

T H E S M A L L E S T A N I M A L S M i n i a t u r e r e c o r d h o l d e r s

26 27


The largest livingdragonfly (below)measures 19 cmacross its wings.The largest-everdragonfly had awingspan morethan three timesthat size.

T H E L A R G E S T I N S E C T S

There are more different kinds of insect than anyother animal. Insects come in a huge variety ofsizes: some are bigger than some small mammals

(see page 69) while some are so tiny it is impossible to seethem without a magnifying glass. The biggest butterfly is1000 times larger than the smallest fairy fly.

Most insects are small, partly because of the way theybreathe. Unlike humans, they do not have lungs to forceair in and out. Instead, air drifts in and out of their bodiesthrough little tubes in their sides. This simple breathingsystem would not let enough fresh air reach deep insidethe body of too large an animal.

Some insects must be light enough to fly. An insect livesinside a hard outer skeleton, like a suit of armour. As theinsect grows, this armour must split open and fall off toallow a bigger suit to grow in its place. If beetles orbutterflies grew as large and plump as pigeons theirarmour would have to be so heavy that they could not fly.Some prehistoric insects were much bigger (although noheavier) than the largest insects now alive. One prehistoricdragonfly even had the wingspan of a crow!

The largest cockroach (left)has a body nearly 10 cmlong. Its antennae (feelers)are even longer.

The longest stickinsect (right) is asthick as a humanfinger and longer thana man’s foot.

The largest flea, thebeaver flea is tiny, buteven smaller fleas jump33 cm, equivalent tohumans leaping 210 m.

The world’s heaviest insects arethe goliath beetles from WestAfrica (right). One big male goliathbeetle is as heavy as 50 pygmyshrews, the lightest land mammals(see page 69). Elephant beetlesfrom Central America are biggerthan goliaths but weigh less.

The world’s largest butterfly,the Queen Alexandra’sbirdwing, is also probably therarest. Females (above) cangrow to 28 cm across thewings. They fly so high theyare difficult to net. The firstspecimen collected was shotdown instead!

The male QueenAlexandra’s birdwing(below) is smaller thanthe female. His brightcolours warn hungrybirds that he ispoisonous to eat.

28 29

The insects are pictured at actual size

G i a n t s o f t h e m i n i - b e a s t w o r l d


STOOPING TO CONQUERThe peregrine falcon is the fastest living

creature on Earth. A bird of prey, itclimbs high in the sky, before folding

its wings and diving or ‘stooping’at speeds of more than 200

km/h to catch other birds inmid-flight. Smaller birds

may be killed with asingle blow from thefalcon’s talons; thenecks of largerbirds are broken bya stab from itspowerful beak.

IF ALL THE FASTEST ANIMALS came together to run a race, whowould win? First, of course, would be a bird. Birds can swoopand glide unhindered through the air in search of their prey,

escaping from their predators, or simply to cover the longdistances over which they migrate each year.

Following – some distance behind – is a fish. Although theirspeeds are difficult to measure, speeds of over 100 km/h havebeen recorded for the sailfish. The fastest runner on land isthe cheetah, which chases its prey at up to 100 km/h,although it cannot keep this up for more than aminute or so. Racehorses, hares andostriches are also very fast sprinters,but the speediest landanimal running overdistance is the pronghorn.Athletes recording timesof under ten secondsfor a race of a 100metres may reachpeak speeds ofaround 43 km/hduring thecourse of theirsprint.

Speedrecords forspiders andinsects arevery difficultto time.Dragonfliesmay be thefastest flyinginsects overshort bursts,while tropicalcockroaches areprobably the fastest-moving insects on land.

The illustrations are not drawnto scale

...AND THE SLOWEST

Bringing up the rear are three animals well-knownfor lacking fleetness of foot. The largest livingtortoise, the Aldabra giant tortoise of the Seychellesand Mauritius, is capable of covering 370 metres anhour (over six metres a minute). Spending most of itslife asleep, the three-toed sloth, can, in a burst ofspeed through the trees, make five metres in aminute. The snail, however, easily wins the woodenspoon. Even the world record holder travels nofurther than 15 centimetres in a one-minute ‘dash’.

Ducks and geese are probably thefastest birds in level flight. Speciessuch as the red-breasted merganser, asea duck, are powerful flyers.

PEREGRINE FALCON Over 200 km/hRED-BREASTED MERGANSER

Over 100 km/h

CHEETAH 100 km/hFastest mammal

DRAGONFLY 58 km/hFastest insect

LONG-LEGGED SUN SPIDER16 km/h

Fastest arachnid

COCKROACH 4.6 km/hFastest insect on land

GIANT TORTOISESLOTH SNAIL

BLACK MAMBA 19 km/hFastest snake

BROWN HARE72 km/h

RACEHORSE 69 km/h

HUMAN 43 km/h

KILLER WHALE55 km/h

Fastest mammalin water

OSTRICH65 km/hFastest birdon land

PRONGHORN67 km/h

Fastest mammalover distance

SAILFISH 109 km/hFastest fish

T H E F A S T E S T . . . . . . a n d t h e s l o w e s t

30 31


NO ANIMAL lives for ever. Accidents, diseases orenemies kill many of them while they are stillyoung. Only one Atlantic mackerel in every 100,000

is likely to survive more than 90 days. But creatures thatescape an early end may live on until their bodies wearout. Animals that live protected lives in zoos often live togreater ages than they would do in the wild.

Tiny animals tend to have the shortest lives. A mayfly,for example, once it gets its wings, usually lives no morethan a single day. An albatross or an elephant, on theother hand, can go on for many years. After an elephantturns 60, however, its teeth begin to wear out; it cannotchew so it starves to death.

The longest-lived vertebrate animal is the giant tortoise,but some marine animals may live much longer. In 2007, atype of clam called the quahog clam dredged fromIcelandic waters was found to have lived for between 405and 410 years!

The illustrations are not drawn to scale

LONG-LIVED REPTILESTuataras and tortoises live longer than any other landanimals. Tuataras (above) are lizard-like creatures foundonly on small islands off New Zealand. In chilly weather, atuatara breathes no more than once an hour. Scientiststhink that creatures which lead such slow-motion lives arecapable of living 120 years or more.

Several kinds of tortoises normally live for more than100 years. One giant tortoise, collected by the Frenchexplorer Marion de Fresne from the Seychelles in 1766, died(from a fall) in 1918, 152 years later. Known as ‘Marion’s’tortoise, it was probably an adult when captured and socould have been more than 200 years old when it died!

JEWEL BEETLEMore than 30 yearsLongest-lived insect

JAPANESE GIANT SALAMANDERMore than 50 years

Longest-lived amphibian

GIANT TORTOISEMore than 1OO yearsLongest-lived chelonian

LAKE STURGEONMore than 8O yearsLongest-lived fish

In some countries, the lifeexpectancy of womenexceeds 80 years. A fewpeople have evenreached ages of 120years and above.

ASIAN ELEPHANTMore than 60 yearsLongest-lived land

mammal (after humans)

WANDERING ALBATROSSMore than 70 yearsLongest-lived bird

KILLER WHALEUp to 8O yearsLongest-livedmarine mammal

Killer whales move around infamily ‘pods’, ranging from 5 to50 members. The females, orcows, are the dominant animals.In the wild, male killer whalescan live to about 50, females upto 80 years.

T H E L O N G E S T - L I V E D . . . N a t u r e ’ s s e n i o r c i t i z e n s

32 33


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KE

Y1

Wanderingalbatross

2EmperorpenguinDeepest-divingbird

about500m

3HumanDeepestscubadive318.25m

4LeatherbackturtleDeepest-diving

reptile1200m

5ElephantsealDeepest-divingseal

1250m

6BathysphereRecorddescent923m

7Giantsquid

8Sixgillshark

9Alvinsubmersible

10SpermwhaleDeepest-divingmammal

over3000m

11Anglerfish

12Gulper

13WreckofTitanicabout4000m

14Vampiresquid

15Rat-tail

16Hatchetfish

17Anglerfish

18Tripodfish

19Deepest-livingsponge5500m

20BrotulidDeepest-livingfish8300m

21Deepest-livingstarfish7500m

22TriestebathyscapheRecorddescent

10,924m

Amphipod10,500m

Deepest-living

invertebrate

R E A L M O F T H E D E E P T h e d e e p e s t - l i v i n g o c e a n a n i m a l s

34

Themeasuring

rodismarked

at1000-metre

intervals


ANIMALS ARE ALWAYS ON THE MOVE in searchof fresh sources of food. Some travel at thesame time each year to places where the new

season brings a more favourable climate for feedingor breeding. Called migration, these journeys aresometimes made to distant parts of the world. Themost ambitious travellers fly or swim incredibledistances across oceans and back again to the sameplaces each year.

The champion long-distance specialist is theArctic tern. In one year, this small bird flies from theArctic to the Antarctic and back again – almost allthe way around the world. The wandering albatrossdoes circle the world, but near the South Polewhere the distance is shorter.

Animal swimmers can also make amazingly longsea trips. Green turtles feed off Brazil but swim farout into the Atlantic Ocean to breed on lonelyAscension Island. Grey whales make the longestjourneys of any mammal. They feed in Arctic watersin summer, before swimming south in winter tobreed off Mexico.

Probably the farthest-travelled reptile, thegreen turtle (above)swims up to 2250 kmto its breeding groundson Ascension Islandthen back again.

The wanderingalbatross (below)travels round the worldnear Antarctica.

The albacore (bottom)may make twojourneys across thePacific totalling15,800 km.

A BIRD OF TWO SUMMERSAll terns migrate, but none as far as theArctic tern (left). Adults breed in the Arcticwhen it is summer in the north. Then theyfly all the way to the opposite end of theEarth, a distance of some 13,000 km, wherethey spend the southern summer fishingoff Antarctica. For half a year, they livewhere the sun never sets. Their migrationsare so long that Arctic terns spend the

other half just flying from one home toanother. Over the course of their lives,some will fly more than 1 million km.

The slender-billedshearwater (left) nestson islands nearAustralia then sets offon a seven-monthjourney around thenorth Pacific. It makesuse of following windsto help it complete itsfigure-of-eightmarathon.Pacific salmon (below)

travel out to sea andback to their ‘home’rivers, a journey of upto 11,300 km.

No other mammalmigrates as far as thegrey whale (below). Inone year it may swim22,500 km.

The young of the European eel (right) are born in theSargasso Sea east of Florida. They spend the nextfew years drifting 10,000 km across to Europe. Theyswim up rivers to grow into adults.

The illustrations arenot drawn to scale

Arctictern

Grey whale

Slender-billedshearwater

Green turtle

Pacific salmon

Albacore

Wanderingalbatross

European eel

P A C I F I CO C E A N

A T L A N T I CO C E A N

O C E A N T R A V E L L E R S T h e l o n g e s t j o u r n e y s

36 37


MANY ANIMAL MIGRANTS that go by air – birds, batsand insects – prefer to avoid travelling over the sea.They may be unable to find their usual sources of

food, or to rest from long periods of flight. If they do need tocross the sea on their journey, they will cross where there arenarrow straits or island ‘stepping-stones’.

In the Northern Hemisphere spring, millions of birds flockthousands of kilometres northwards. Warblers, plovers andothers will rear their young during the long northern summerdays when food is plentiful. Bats and butterflies join in thegreat airborne migration. There are even some animals that goby foot: herds of caribou, a kind of deer, wander hundreds ofkilometres across the far north of Canada.

Sometimes, the travellers must cross deserts. To many, theseare just as forbidding as the open seas. Warblers feed wellbefore they overfly a desert. A plump willow warbler’s bodyholds enough energy to enable it to fly 60 hours non-stop.

As summer ends, the long-distance travellers, or theiryoung, head back south to spend winter in warmer climates.

Probably the farthest-travelled bat, thenoctule flies up to1600 km north acrosseastern Europe in thespring.

Golden plovers flyoverland from Brazil tonorthern Canada, thenback across theAtlantic Ocean, a flightof 19,000 km eachyear.

Every autumn, clouds of monarchbutterflies flutter a record 3200 kmsouth from Canada to Mexico.Billions of these insects spend winterclustered together on tall evergreentrees. In spring they fly back north,laying eggs as they go. Most adultsdie, but their young complete thejourney begun by their parents.


The willow warblermay undergo ajourney fromnorthern Siberia allthe way to thesouthern tip ofAfrica – fartherthan any otherperching bird.

Painted ladies are thefarthest-travelled OldWorld (not from theAmericas) butterflies.

Huge swarms of desert locustswill fly 3200 km in a great circlearound the Sahara desert. Theyprobably fly farther than anyother insect apart frombutterflies.

ARCTIC OVERLANDERSNamed after the American Indian wordfor ‘shoveller’ – it paws away the snowto eat the grass underneath – thecaribou walks farther in a year thanany other mammal. Each spring, herdstrudge up to 1300 km along well-worntracks to their summer pastures northof the Arctic Circle in Canada. Here inthese treeless wastes, the meltingsnows uncover fresh new grasses andother tasty plants. The caribou fattenup in preparation for the long returnjourney to their winter home in thedeep coniferous forests of Alberta,Saskatchewan and Manitoba.

The passage can hold unexpecteddangers. In the mid-1980s more than4000 caribou drowned trying to swimacross a flooded river in Québec.

Noctulebat

Willowwarbler

EUROPEASIA

Paintedlady

Desertlocust

AFRICA

SOUTHAMERICA

Goldenplover

NORTH AMERICA

Monarchbutterfly

Caribou

O V E R L A N D T R A V E L L E R S L o n g - d i s t a n c e s p e c i a l i s t s

38 39


SOME ANIMALS ARE VERY RARE, numbering perhapsonly a few hundred in the wild. They include somevery well-known animals, like the giant panda or the

blue whale. Some are getting even scarcer and could soondisappear.

In the course of evolution (see page 49), every kind ofanimal eventually dies out, but we humans are speedingup the rate at which many become extinct. In the past,hunters were the worst culprits, wiping out some animalsfor food or sport, and others because they threatenedpeople or livestock. Now wild creatures die out whenfarms and cities gobble up the forests, prairies andmarshes where they live.

The Red List of Threatened Species for 2007, issued bythe World Conservation Union (IUCN) lists 16,306species threatened with extinction. One in threeamphibians, one in four mammals, one ineight birds and more than two-thirds ofplants are thought to be at risk. Humanalteration of habitats and climate changeare the biggest causes. Besides all these,millions of unknown kinds of insects couldvanish for ever even before we havediscovered them!

Fewer than 200Tonkin snub-nosedmonkeys live in thewild, in four smallpatches of bambooforest in Vietnam.

Spix’s macaw is nowbelieved to be extinct inthe wild. About 70 arekept as pets. Breedingcaptive birds is now theonly hope of keepingthis species alive.

The Javan rhinoceros is the scarcest largemammal. A century ago thousands roamedthe hilly forests of south-east Asia. Thenfarmers cut down trees and hunters killedrhinos to sell their horns for makingmedicines. Only about 40-50 survive.

Kemp’s ridley seaturtle breeds mainlyon one beach inMexico. Once tens ofthousands came; nowonly a few hundredarrive. Many havedrowned in fishingnets or died in oil-polluted waters.

PRECARIOUS POND-DWELLERSChanges in the weather can put some animals atrisk. Golden toads live only in Costa Rica’smoist, misty mountain forests. In 1988 littlerain fell and the toads’ breeding ponds driedup. By 1990 no toads could be found at all.

The Devil’s Hole pupfish lives only in aflooded Californian cave. Between 38 and 42individuals were counted in 2007.

The vaquita lives only inthe Gulf of California.The victims of nets setfor sharks and rays, only200 of these tiny whales,each no longer than ahuman being, may stillsurvive.

A SUCCESS STORY?Of the animals pictured here, only theblack-footed ferret, which is enjoyingthe special care of people determined tosave it, has a good chance of survival.By the mid 1980s, there were just 18ferrets left, all living in Wyoming, USA.Scientists caught and bred them, and in1991 the first ferrets were returned tothe wild. Today, numbers are up tomore than 600 individuals.


T H E R A R E S T A N I M A L S C r e a t u r e s c l o s e t o e x t i n c t i o n

40 41


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DOUGLASFIR

128mtall

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tallestknowntree

COASTREDWOOD

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GIANTSEQUOIA

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Heaviestlivingtree

T H E T A L L E S T T R E E S N a t u r e ’ s s k y s c r a p e r s

42 43

EUCALYPTUS

(MOUNTAINASH)

97mtall

Tallestbroadleaftree


T H E L A R G E S T F L O W E R T h e m y s t e r i o u s R a f f l e s i a

44

Rafflesia has a flower almost as big as a buswheel but no roots, stem or leaves for makingfood. This parasite steals ready-madenourishment from another plant.From the sticky seeds produced by femaleflowers sprout the threads that form a newRafflesia plant. The threads burrow throughthe rough bark of a jungle vine. Nine monthslater, a new flower bud bursts open.

THE FIRST FLOWERNo one knows when the world’sfirst flowering plant bloomed, orwhat it was. But fossil leaves andpollen found in rocks do show thatflowering plants existed more than125 million years ago. The earliestkinds (left) may have looked liketoday’s magnolias. Scientists believethat the magnolias’ ancestors wererelated to cone-bearing pines andfir trees. Unlike these kinds ofplants, flowering plants carry seedscovered with a special outer coat.These well-protected seeds helpedflowering plants to multiply andspread around the world.

THE SMALLEST FLOWERThis picture shows Wolffia, the world’s tiniest floweringplant, hugely magnified and cut open from one side. Itsflowers grow inside a special hollow. About the size of acomma on this page, Wolffia is so small that you cannotsee it properly without a magnifying glass. Millions ofthese floating plants mass together to form green scumon ponds. There are about a dozen sorts of Wolffia indifferent parts of the world. The smallest kind, Wolffiaarrhiza, lives in Australia.

WALKING THROUGH a south-east Asian forest,you might sniff a disgusting smell like rottingmeat. This stench would lead you to one of

the strangest plants on Earth. A scientist named itRafflesia after Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles, the Britishcolonial governor who founded Singapore. People alsocall it the stinking corpse lily. But Rafflesia is not a lily,nor is it like any other ordinary flowering plant.

You will see no stem, and there are no leaves orroots. The whole plant consists of long, thin threadshidden from sight – and one huge flower up to90 centimetres across, the largest flower in theworld. With five reddish ‘petals’ resembling slices ofraw meat, the flower is very heavy, too. A largespecimen may weigh more than a one-year-old child.


INDEXAAegyptopithecus 16albacore 36-37albatross, wandering 25, 32, 34-35, 36-37amphibianearliest 7longest-lived 32rarest 41smallest 26amphipod 34-35Andrewsarchus 14-15anglerfish 35arachnid (spider), fastest 31Arandapsis 6Archaeopteryx 7archosaur 8-9Australopithecus afarensis 16-17

BBambuti people 19banyan tree 43baobab tree 43batfarthest-travelled 38Kitti’s hog-nosed 27noctule 38-39smallest 27bearpolar 24sun 27beetlegoliath 29heaviest 29jewel 32birddeepest-diving 34-35earliest 7farthest-travelled 36-37fastest 30-31greatest wingspan 25heaviest flying 24largest 25longest-lived 32rarest 40smallest 26tallest-ever 10-11bonelargest 18smallest 18

Brachiosaurus 8-9, 10-11brotulid 34-35bustard, Kori 24butterflyfarthest-travelled 38-39largest 29monarch 38painted lady 39Queen Alexandra’s birdwing 29

Ccaribou 38-39carnivorelargest-ever 14largest on land 24smallest 27cat, rusty-spotted 27cheetah 30-31cheloniandeepest-diving 34-35largest 23longest-lived 33cockroachfastest 31largest 28

Compsognathus 13crocodile, estuarine 25crustacean 35

Ddeer, lesser mouse 27Deinosuchus 9Dinka people 19Dinornis 10-11

dinosaur 8-13earliest 6fastest 12largest 8-9largest claw 12largest skull 13longest 8-9longest neck 8-9, 10-11most intelligent 12smallest 13tallest 10-11

Diplodocus 9dolphin, Heaviside’s 27dragonfly 31largest 28

Dromiceiomimus 12

Eeel, European 36elephantAfrican 25Asian 33largest-ever 15endangered species 40-41Eoraptor 6eucalyptus tree 42Euparkeria 6Eusthenopteron 6evolution 7

Ffairy fly 26Falabella (horse) 27falcon, peregrine 31ferret, black-footed 41fir, Douglas 42fishdeepest-living 34-35earliest 6-7farthest-travelled 36-37fastest 30largest 23longest-lived 32rarest 41smallest 26flea, beaver 28flower 44-45largest 44-45oldest kind 45smallest 44frog, Brazilian short-headed 26

GGiganotosaurus 8-9gecko, dwarf 26Gigantopithecus 15gingko tree 42-43giraffe 10-11, 24gland, largest 18Glyptodon 15goby, dwarf 26

Hhare, brown 30hatchet fish 35hominids 16-17Homo erectus 16-17Homo habilis 16-17Homo sapiens 16-17horse 27, 30human 16-19body 18-19deepest-diving 34-35earliest 14-15heaviest 18lightest 18longest-lived 32-33shortest 18-19tallest 18-19hummingbird, bee 26Hylonomus 6

IIchthyostega 7

Indricotherium 10, 14-15insect 28-29farthest-travelled 38-39fastest 30-31heaviest 29largest 28-29longest-lived 32smallest 26invertebrate, longest 23

Kkrill 20Kuehneotherium 7

Llemur, pygmy mouse 26-27locust, desert 39

Mmacaw, Spix’s 40mackerel, Atlantic 33magnolia 45mamba, black 30Mamenchisaurus 8-9, 10-11mammal 14-21deepest-diving 35earliest 7farthest-travelled 36-37fastest 30-31largest 25largest-ever 14-15, 20longest-lived 32-33rarest 40-41smallest 27tallest 24

Mammuthus trogontherii 15Marianas Trench 34marsupial, smallest 27mayfly 33Megazostrodon 7merganser, red-breasted 31migration 36-39monkey, Tonkin snub-nosed 40mouse, pygmy 27musclelargest 18smallest 18mycoplasma 26

NNeanderthal human 16-17neck, longest 8-9, 10-11, 19

Oocean animals 20-23, 34-35, 36-37organ, largest 18ostrich 12, 25, 30

PPadaung people 19penguin, emperor 34-35pine, bristlecone 42-43planigale, Kimberley 27plover, golden 38primate 16-17earliest 16largest-ever 15smallest 27pronghorn 30protozoan 26pupfish, Devil’s Hole 41python, reticulated 25

QQuetzalcoatlus 8-9

RRafflesia 44-45rat-tail fish 35redwood, coast 42reptile 8-9, 12-13deepest-diving 34-35earliest 6-7farthest-travelled 36

largest 25largest-ever 8-9longest-lived 33rarest 41smallest 26rhinoceros 14-15Javan 40rodent, smallest 27

Ssailfish 30salamander, Japanese giant 32salmon, Pacific 37sauropod 8-11sealdeepest-diving 35elephant 22, 35largest 22

Seismosaurus 8-9, 10-11sequoia, giant 43sharksixgill 35whale 23shearwater, slender-billed 37shrew, pygmy white-toothed 27skull 13sloth, three-toed 31snail 31snakefastest 30longest 25sponge, deepest-living 35squidgiant 23, 35vampire 35stapes 18starfish, deepest-living 35Stegosaurus 9stick insect, longest 28sturgeon, lake 32

Ttern, Arctic 36-37Therizinosaurus 12toad, golden 41Torosaurus 13tortoisegiant 24, 31, 33heaviest 24longest-lived 33Marion’s 33tree 42-43greatest canopy 43heaviest 42-43oldest kind 42-43tallest 42thickest trunk 43tripod fish 35Troodon 12tuatara 33turtledeepest-diving 35farthest-travelledgreen 36Kemp’s ridley sea 41largest 33leatherback 23, 35

Tyrannosaurus rex 8

Uungulate, smallest 27

Vvaquita 41

Wwarbler, willow 38-39weasel, least 26-27whale 20-25blue 9, 20-25grey 36-37killer 30, 32sperm 20, 34-35

Wolffia arrhiza 44

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The Living World · 2016-10-27 · A LL ANIMALS have prehistoric ancestors whose fossil remains are found in ancient rocks. Scientists studying these fossils can work out when each