• The world's largest predator- This is a Kodiak bear. Its length is more than three meters, and its weight is over 700 kilograms.
  • The most amazing animal- this is a yak. He has the head of a cow, the tail of a horse, the skeleton of a bison, the hair of a goat, the horns of a bull, and on top of that he grunts like a pig.
  • The deepest sleep- from the gopher. During hibernation You can take him out of the hole, roll him around like a ball, shake him as you like - he won’t wake up. The yellow gopher sleeps nine months of the year.
  • The thickest skinned- not an elephant, but a Nile hippopotamus. Its skin thickness reaches 2.5 centimeters (for an elephant - 1.8 centimeters, for a rhinoceros - 2 centimeters).
  • The most little heart Of all the predators... the lion has.
  • The most "unsinkable" among land animals - porcupine. It cannot drown at all: the cavities of its numerous needles are filled with air.
  • The most bouncy- cat flea. A flea can cover a distance of 33 centimeters in one jump. Compared to its size, this is a gigantic distance!
  • The fastest on our planet there is a cheetah, he is an unsurpassed runner, reaches speeds of up to 120 kilometers per hour, covering distances of up to half a kilometer in short bursts, and picks up speed from a standstill to 100 kilometers per hour in three seconds. Not every racing car is capable of this!
  • Fastest fish- a sailfish (the same one that the hero of Ernest Hemingway’s story “The Old Man and the Sea” hunted for so long). Sailfish can outrun even a cheetah at short distances. It reaches speeds of up to 109 kilometers per hour.
  • The tiniest bird- hummingbird-bee, has a size of no more than 6 centimeters. Birds simply cannot be smaller than this.
  • The largest and at the same time the heaviest on our planet - a blue whale. The length of an adult whale can exceed 30 meters, and its weight reaches 125 tons or even more.
  • The heaviest from terrestrial animals - African elephant. Their body length reaches 6-7.5 meters, height at the shoulders ( highest point body) - 2.4-3.5 meters. Average weight the bodies of females are 2.8 tons, males - 5 tons. They are slightly larger than their Asian relatives and have different big ears, which slightly resemble Africa in their outlines.
  • The most large bird — ostrich. He is very tall - up to two and a half meters, and his weight is more than 130 kilograms.
  • The smartest animal- chimpanzee. Their leisure time includes communication with representatives of their species, control of their environment, facial expressions, gestures, and the ability to use tools. At the same time, there are individuals who have developed certain language skills.
  • The best flyer- hummingbird. This bird belongs to the Trochilidae family. All hummingbirds are very small birds, and the hummingbird has the ability to hover motionless in the air, making up to 90 wing beats per second. They are the only bird that can fly backwards. Their flight speed reaches 55 kilometers per hour.
  • The most voracious animal in the world - the shrew, per day this hamster-like creature with a pointed muzzle can digest up to 15 grams of various insects, with its weight being 2-3 grams. Moreover, the shrew hunts 12-16 hours a day so as not to feel hungry.
  • The smallest ruminant in the world - the royal antelope. This creature lives in western Africa. The royal antelope weighs about 3 kg and its height is 27 centimeters.
  • The most toothy on the ground - garden snail. After all, she has 25 thousand teeth! True, as we understand, these teeth are absolutely safe and serve only for grinding leaves. But the fact remains, and the garden snail rightfully takes its place in the Book of Records as the most toothy creature on the planet.
  • The most tall mammal in the world - giraffe. A unique specimen with a height of 5.86 meters was registered in Kenya in 1930. Scientists say that in all of Africa it is impossible to find two giraffes whose neck patterns match. It is as unique as human fingerprints !!

News and society

Do you know which of the predators has the smallest heart?

May 3, 2014

We are all different: some are shorter, some are taller, some are thinner, some are fuller. And this is not surprising. In principle, this is how it should be.

In the animal world, everything happens exactly the same. Although... So, which of the predators do you think has the smallest heart? As a rule, in search of an answer to this question, we begin to sort through the memory of small representatives of the fauna, ranging from weasels to the familiar domestic cat. But are we right? Let's try to figure it out together

Section 1. What does “small heart” mean?

In general, according to scientists, it is extremely erroneous to judge the volume of the most important organ by the size of the entire body. Of course, if the animal is small, then its heart is unlikely to occupy the entire internal cavity, which means a priori it will be tiny.

It would be more correct to study the proportional ratio of the volume of the mentioned organ to the entire organism. For example, average weight an adult is 77 kg, while the mass of the heart is only 380 g, i.e. approximately 0.5%. Agree, a little.

Section 2. The king of beasts distinguished himself here too

It’s hard to even imagine that the answer to the question of which predator has the smallest heart is a lion. Nevertheless this fact not only discovered by scientists, but also scientifically confirmed. His heart accounts for 1% of his total mass.

We can talk endlessly about this majestic beauty, because, in addition to the tinyness of the main organ of the cardiovascular system, he has a lot of other unique physiological features.

We list only the most basic ones.

  1. You will never meet lions with the same muzzles, because they are truly unique.
  2. You won't even encounter a chewing predator. He's simply not capable of doing it. Food is bitten off in pieces and swallowed whole.
  3. By the way, a lion has fewer teeth than a human. You and I have 36, he only has 30.
  4. But the length of the claws is amazing: they can reach 7 cm.
  5. The little lion cubs are completely helpless. Their eyes open only on the eleventh day, but they begin to walk only on the fifteenth.
  6. Have you seen a roaring lion at the zoo or in the movies? Please know that this predator is no less than 2 years old. Only at this age does the animal acquire this ability.
  7. A pride of lions is often compared to a gypsy camp. Why? The thing is that not only his mother, but also all females who also have cubs at this time can feed lion cubs with milk.
  8. At night, a lion can see 6 times better than a human.
  9. Like any representatives of felines, sleep plays almost the most important role in the life of this animal. Sleep for twenty hours straight? No problem!

Video on the topic

Section 3. Storm of the Nile

And which of the predators has the smallest heart? At the crocodile. According to experts, he should be awarded an honorable second place: his weight is vital important body occupies 1.5% of total body weight.

What else is known about this bloodthirsty creature? Firstly, like a lion, a crocodile cannot chew, but powerful jaws he needs them for biting food and protection.

By the way, not everyone realizes that in most cases the predator does not attack the food immediately. He drowns her and leaves her in the water for a while to soak her. The muscles responsible for opening and closing the crocodile's mouth are weak. This physiological feature is often used when demonstrating tricks: it doesn’t take much effort to prevent the animal from opening its mouth.

But his teeth are really terrible. Actually, there are 24 of them, but that's not the main thing. The scary thing is that they are renewed throughout life.

Of course, everyone has heard this catchphrase, How " crocodile tears", and compassionate people immediately endowed the predator with a certain sentimentality. No, the crocodile does not cry over its prey. Everything is much simpler. When absorbing food, it swallows a lot of air, which is then removed from the body with the help of the lacrimal glands.

Small size hearts does not prevent a predator from having the reputation of an excellent swimmer and excellent diver. By the way, while swimming, crocodiles' nose and ears are protected by movable valves.

In general, the answers to the question of which predator has the smallest heart turned out to be quite unexpected. Agree, few people realized that a merciless lion and a cold-blooded, both literally and figuratively, crocodile could be called such champions.

We are all different: some are shorter, some are taller, some are thinner, some are fuller. And this is not surprising. In principle, this is how it should be.

In the animal world, everything happens exactly the same. Although... So, which of the predators do you think has the smallest heart? As a rule, in search of an answer to this question, we begin to sort through the memory of small representatives of the fauna, ranging from weasels to the familiar domestic cat. But are we right? Let's try to figure it out together

Section 1. What does “small heart” mean?

In general, according to scientists, it is extremely erroneous to judge the volume of the most important organ by the size of the entire body. Of course, if the animal is small, then its heart is unlikely to occupy the entire internal cavity, which means a priori it will be tiny.

It would be more correct to study the proportional ratio of the volume of the mentioned organ to the entire organism. For example, the average weight of an adult is 77 kg, while the weight of the heart is only 380 g, i.e. approximately 0.5%. Agree, a little.

Section 2. And here he distinguished himself

It’s hard to even imagine that the answer to the question of which predator has the smallest heart is a lion. Nevertheless, this fact was not only discovered by scientists, but also scientifically confirmed. His heart accounts for 1% of his total mass.

We can talk endlessly about this majestic beauty, because, in addition to the tinyness of the main organ of the cardiovascular system, he has a lot of other unique physiological features.

We list only the most basic ones.

  1. You will never meet lions with the same muzzles, because they are truly unique.
  2. You won't even encounter a chewing predator. He's simply not capable of doing it. Food is bitten off in pieces and swallowed whole.
  3. By the way, a lion has fewer teeth than a human. You and I have 36, he only has 30.
  4. But the length of the claws is amazing: they can reach 7 cm.
  5. The little lion cubs are completely helpless. Their eyes open only on the eleventh day, but they begin to walk only on the fifteenth.
  6. Have you seen a roaring lion at the zoo or in the movies? Please know that this predator is no less than 2 years old. Only at this age does the animal acquire this ability.
  7. very often compared to a gypsy camp. Why? The thing is that not only his mother, but also all females who also have cubs at this time can feed lion cubs with milk.
  8. At night, a lion can see 6 times better than a human.
  9. Like any feline, sleep plays almost the most important role in the life of this animal. Sleep for twenty hours straight? No problem!

Section 3. Storm of the Nile

And which of the predators has the smallest heart? At the crocodile. According to experts, he should be awarded an honorable second place: the weight of his vital organ occupies 1.5% of the total body weight.

What else is known about this bloodthirsty creature? Firstly, like a lion, a crocodile cannot chew, but it needs powerful jaws for biting off food and for protection.

By the way, not everyone realizes that in most cases the predator does not attack the food immediately. He drowns her and leaves her in the water for a while to soak her. The muscles responsible for opening and closing the crocodile's mouth are weak. This physiological feature is often used when demonstrating tricks: it doesn’t take much effort to prevent the animal from opening its mouth.

But his teeth are really terrible. Actually, there are 24 of them, but that's not the main thing. The scary thing is that they are renewed throughout life.

Of course, everyone has heard such a catchphrase as “crocodile tears,” and compassionate people immediately endowed the predator with a certain sentimentality. No, the crocodile does not cry over its prey. Everything is much simpler. When absorbing food, it swallows a lot of air, which is then removed from the body with the help of

The small size of the heart does not prevent the predator from being famous as an excellent swimmer and excellent diver. By the way, while swimming, crocodiles' nose and ears are protected by movable valves.

In general, the answers to the question of which predator has the smallest heart turned out to be quite unexpected. Agree, few people realized that a merciless lion and a cold-blooded, both literally and figuratively, crocodile could be called such champions.

Even if we take into account the giants that inhabited the Earth millions of years ago - brachiosaurs, blue whales still surpass them in size, their weight is more than 2 times the weight of these fossil animals. If we compare the blue whale with the second largest modern animal living on the planet, then the superiority of the whale is undeniable - it is 38 times heavier than the elephant. The average length of a blue whale is 26 meters, and the largest whale ever seen by man reached a length of 33.5 meters. On average, such a whale weighs 150 tons, approximately the same as 2,400 people weigh.

With all this, the heart rate of the blue whale is the slowest of all animals - during a dive it is only 4 to 8 beats per minute. At this time, only the brain and the giant are supplied with blood. By the way, its heart weighs about 650 kg and is comparable in size to a small car like a Mini Cooper. The main aorta is larger in diameter than the world's largest water pipe, located in London, and can withstand greater pressure. And you can hear the heart of a whale very far away - at a distance of several tens of kilometers, these sounds are easily picked up by acoustic instruments located on ships. The heart of the whale is a reliable and wear-resistant pump with high efficiency; no designer has yet succeeded in bringing such technical solutions to life.

How blue whales live


Once upon a time, all oceans were inhabited by blue whales, but their numbers gradually decreased; in addition, whaling caused the fact that today the Arctic population of these animals numbers, according to various estimates, from several hundred to several thousand. A more accurate count is not possible given the deep sea blues.

To feed itself, this giant needs to eat about 1 ton of krill every day - and shrimp living in surface waters, what's up energy value is about 1 million calories. Swimming through layers rich in krill, whales swallow hundreds of tons of water and crustaceans, and then push out the water, filtering the krill through a sieve of “baleen” - numerous horny plates hanging from the roof of their mouth.

The whale's oral cavity is a spacious room with an area of ​​about 24 square meters. m.

Whales migrate throughout the year - they “graze” in the subpolar regions of Antarctica, and by winter they move to warm equatorial waters, covering thousands of miles of travel. At the same time, “on the road” they may not eat anything at all, using up the fat reserves that they gained on summer or winter pastures. Whales usually travel alone, sometimes in pairs, and can communicate by emitting intense low-frequency sounds reaching a level of 188 dB, which allows their relatives, who are located at a distance of about 1,500 km, to hear them.

IN calm state the whale swims at a speed of 10-15 km/h, but sometimes reaches speeds of up to 35-40 km/h, which, however, it can maintain for a very short time, only a few minutes.

Female whales carry their babies for 11 months, a 7-meter “baby” weighing 2 tons is able to drink more than 0.5 tons of fatty mother’s milk daily and double its original weight in a week, by which time they can already provide themselves with food on their own. Whales become adults only after 4.5 years, and reach full physical maturity by 14-15 years.