top 10 Animals

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Which is the fastest animal on earth? How small is the smallest monkey on the planet? What is the world’s strongest animal?

Find out the answers to these questions and many more with our Animal Top 10s. Prepare to be amazed!
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Smallest animals

Check out this selection of the smallest vertebrate animals on earth. Some people think the smallest animals are the shortest in height, or length, or the lightest. Which ever way you measure them these really are some amazing little animals.

Strongest animals

Many animals possess strength that even the strongest humans could only dream about. Different animals have different kinds of strength. Some have pure brute strength and are capable of lifting, dragging, carrying or pulling enormous weights.
More on the top 10 strongest animals

Fastest animals

Some animals are perfectly designed to be the ultimate speed machines. Some of these fly through the air, others swim through water and some run on land. Most of the fastest animals are birds so our list includes a selection of the fastest of all these different types of animals.
More on the top 10 fastest animals

Jumping animals

Whilst we may marvel at the long or high jumping abilities of our top Olympic athletes, their prowess is overshadowed by some of the animal kingdom’s really big jumpers.
More on the top 10 jumping animals

Longest living animals

Most animals have a life span far less than that of humans but there are a number of creatures who live that long, they make the oldest living human seem like a spring chicken in comparison. Have a look at 10 of the longest living animals and see who outlives them all!
More on the top 10 longest living animals

Smelliest animals

Here we have listed ten of the smelliest creatures known to man. But maybe we shouldn’t be too quick to screw our noses up – after all, how would we humans smell without access to soap and water?
More on the top 10 smelliest animals

Extinct animals

There are a number of reasons why some animals have become extinct but how big a part have humans played in their destruction? Read on to find out more.
More on extinct animals



                                            More on the top 10 smallest animals

Animals come in all shapes and sizes, and some small animals can be really small.

Some invertebrates not even visible to the human eye: some mites are known to measure only 200μm (0.0002mm) in length, a parasitic wasp can be as small as 139μm (0.0001mm) long, and there’s a tiny beetle which is less than 1 mm long. Given the minute size of these animals, who knows what we have yet to discover.
Here is a selection of the smallest vertebrate animals on earth. Some people think the smallest animals are the shortest in height, or length, or the lightest. Which ever way you measure them these really are some amazing little animals.

Pygmy Marmoset

The Pygmy Marmoset or Dwarf Monkey (Cebuella pygmaea) is the world’s smallest monkey. It is native to the rainforest canopies of Brazil, Columbia, Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia. It is one of the smallest primates, and the smallest true monkey, with its body length ranging from 14 to 16cm (excluding the 15 to 20cm tail). Males weigh around 140g, and females only 120g. They weigh only 15g at the time of birth. The lifespan of these monkeys is 11 to 16 years. They usually give birth to twins.

Madame Berthe's Mouse Lemur

The smallest primate is the Madame Berthe's Mouse Lemur (Microcebus berthae), found in Madagascar, with an average body length of 92 mm and weight of around 30g. It is found in the Kirindy Mitea National Park in Western Madagascar.

Pygmy Rabbit

The Pygmy Rabbit (Brachylagus idahoensis) is the smallest rabbit. It is found in North America. The adult pygmy rabbit weighs about 400g having a body length of 24cm to 29cm; females are slightly larger than males. They are generally limited to areas on deep soils with tall, dense sagebrush which they use for cover and food. Extensive, well-used runways interlace sage thickets and provide travel and escape routes from predators.

Paedocypris

The Paedocypris (Paedocypris) is the smallest fish, at only 7.9mm in length. This is also considered as the smallest vertebrate. It is found in the peat swamp forests of Indonesia’s Sumatra Island and can survive extreme drought in part due to their small size (just 7.9 mm long at maturity). Much of their habitat is acid water, with pH as low as 2.9. The members of the genus are thought to be highly endangered.

Gold Frog

The smallest frog in the Southern Hemisphere is the Gold or Brazilian Frog (Psyllophryne Didactyla). Adult Gold Frogs measure grow to only 9.8 millimetres in body length (with legs drawn in). Equally small is the smallest frog in the Northern Hemisphere, only recently discovered (1996) in Monte Iberia, Cuba. It doesn't have a common name yet, but its scientific name is Eleutherodactylus iberia.

Slender Blind Snakes

The Slender Blind Snakes or Thread Snakes (Leptotyphlopidae) are a family of snakes thought to be the world’s smallest snakes at about 11cm in length. They are found in North and South America, Africa, and Asia. There are 87 different species of these snakes. They are adapted to burrowing, feeding on ants and termites. Their diet consists mostly of termites or ants, their larvae and pupae. Most species suck out the contents of insect bodies and discard the skin.

Kitti's Hog-nosed Bat

The Kitti's Hog-nosed Bat (Craseonycteris thonglongyai), or Bumblebee Bat from Thailand and Burma is the smallest bat, at 30–40mm in length and 1.5 to 2g in weight. It is about the same size as a bumblebee and has a distinctive pig-like snout, hence its different common names. It lives in limestone caves along rivers. Colonies range greatly in size, with an average of 100 individuals per cave. The bat feeds during short activity periods in the evening and dawn, foraging around nearby forest areas for insects. Females give birth annually to a single offspring. Although the bat's status in Burma is not well-known, the Thai population is restricted to a single province and may be at risk for extinction. Its potential threats are primarily anthropogenic, and include habitat degradation and the disturbance of roosting sites.

Etruscan shrew

The Etruscan shrew (Suncus etruscus), also known as the Etruscan Pygmy Shrew or the White-toothed Pygmy Shrew weighs only 1.2 to 2.7g so could be considered the world’s smallest mammal, although it is slightly longer than the Bumblebee Bat at 36 to 53mm from its head to the base of the tail. The Etruscan Shrew inhabits forests and brush areas between Southern Asia and Southern Europe. This shrew has a lifespan of 15 months. A forager, it subsists largely upon insects. It’s heart beats 14 times per second. The shrew's brain is the largest in ratio to its body weight of all animals, larger than even a human's.

Bee Hummingbird

The Bee Hummingbird (Mellisuga helenae) is the smallest bird and the smallest warm-blooded vertebrate.. It is also known as Cuban bee as it is found mostly in Cuba. It measures 5.7cm in length and 1.8g in weight. The Bee Hummingbird is said to eat half its total body mass and drink eight times its total body mass each day. We cannot see its wings while flying as it flaps its wings 90 times per second. The heartbeat of this bird is 1,260 times. The size of its nest measures 2cm wide and 3cm deep. Its eggs are smaller than coffee grounds.
Hummingbirds are capable of doing something that no other birds can, find out what in our Animals A-Z section.

Speckled Padloper Tortoise

The world's smallest turtle is the Speckled Padloper Tortoise (Homopus signatus) from South Africa. The males measure 6–8cm, while females measure up to almost 10cm.
        

Biggest animals

Animals take many shapes and forms and come in a great diversity of sizes. Some may think the biggest animal is the heaviest, others the longest, or the tallest. Whichever way you measure size there’s no denying that some animals are absolutely huge.

                More on the top 10 biggest animals

Biggest

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Animals take many shapes and forms and come in a great diversity of sizes.

Some may think the biggest animal is the heaviest, others the longest, or the tallest. Whichever way you measure size there’s no denying that some animals are absolutely huge. Here is a selection of the biggest animals on earth.
Watch our  https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=2jUj4eMqzB8

Blue Whale

The Blue whale is the largest animal of all time, reaching a weight of about 180 tonnes and a length of 30m. Their tongues alone can weigh as much as an elephant and their hearts as much as a car.
Learn how many litres of its mothers milk a baby whale can drink in one day in the Blue Whales section in our Animals A-Z.

African Elephant

The largest living land animal is the African elephant which can weigh up to 6,350kg and a length of 10.6 m from trunk to tail with a shoulder height of 4.2m.
Find out what elephants have in common with cetaceans, magpies, humans and other primates in our Animals A-Z section.

Brown Bear

The brown bear and polar bear are the largest living land carnivores having the weight of 1 ton and height of 3m.
Read more facts and watch videos on bears in our Animals A-Z section.

Saltwater Crocodile

The largest living reptile is saltwater crocodile with a length of 5 m. The largest recorded crocodile had a weight of 1,900 kg and 6.3 m length.

Giraffe

Having 5.8 m height the giraffe is considered as the tallest living animal on earth. Its weight is approximately 2,000 kg.
Find out how long giraffes sleep each day in our Animals A-Z section.



 

Ostrich

The Ostrich is the largest living bird having a height of 2.7 m and a weight of 156 kg.
Learn how ostriches manage without teeth in our Animals A-Z section!

Chinese Giant Salamander

Photo by Loren Javier

The Chinese giant salamander is the largest living amphibian having a weight of 64 kg and 1.83 m length.

Whale Shark

Photo by PhotonQuantique

The Whale shark is the largest living fish having a length of 13.6 m and weighing in at 22,000 kg.

Colossal Squid

 

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The Colossal Squid is the largest invertebrate which attains the maximum size of 14m long. The largest recorded size of colossal squid was measured 10 m long with a weight of 494 kg.

Goliath Beetle

The Goliath beetle is the heaviest insect having a weight of 115g and a length of 11.5cm.