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List of heaviest land mammals

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The heaviest land mammal is the African bush elephant which has a weight of up to 5.4 tonnes (6 short tons).[1] This enormous mammal measures 10-13 ft at the shoulder and consumes around 230 kilograms (500 lb) of vegetation a day. The elephant possesses a set of tusks that grow continuously throughout its life. These tusks have the potential to reach 2.7 m (9 ft) in length, although they are most commonly recorded at a length of 0.6–0.9 metres (2.0–3.0 ft). The average walking speed of an elephant is 7.2 km/h (4.5 mph), but they can run at recorded speeds of up to 24 km/h (15 mph).[2]

Heaviest extant land mammals

Rank Name Image Family Taxonomy
Classification		 Mass[Note 1]
1 African bush elephant Elephantidae Loxodonta africana 5,200–6,900 kg (11,500–15,200 lb)[3]
2 Asian elephant Elephantidae Elephas maximus indicus, E. m. maximus, E. m. sumatranus, E. m. borneensis 3,500–4,600 kg (7,700–10,100 lb)[3]
3 White rhinoceros Rhinocerotidae Ceratotherium simum cottoni, C. s. simum 3,200–3,600 kg (7,100–7,900 lb)[4]
4 Indian rhinoceros Rhinocerotidae Rhinoceros unicornis 2,070–2,132 kg (4,564–4,700 lb)[5]
5 African forest elephant Elephantidae Loxodonta cyclotis 1,700–2,300 kg (3,700–5,100 lb)[3]
6 Black rhinoceros Rhinocerotidae Diceros bicornis minor, D. b. michaeli, D. b. longipes 854.6–2,896 kg (1,884–6,385 lb)[6]
7 Hippopotamus Hippopotamidae Hippopotamus amphibius amphibius, H. a. kiboko, H. a. capensis, H. a. tschadensis, H. a. constrictus 1,210–2,001 kg (2,668–4,411 lb)[7]
8 Giraffe Giraffidae Giraffa camelopardalis camelopardalis, G. c. reticulata, G. c. angolensis, G. c. antiquorum, G. c. tippelskirchi, G. c. rothschildi, G. c. giraffa, G. c. thornicrofti, G. c. peralta 849–1,395 kg (1,872–3,075 lb)[8]
9 Gaur Bovidae Bos gaurus gaurus, B. g. readei, B. g. hubbacki 590–941 kg (1,301–2,075 lb)[9]
10 Wild water buffalo Bovidae Bubalus arnee[Note 2] 600–1,200 kg (1,300–2,600 lb)[11][10]
11 Cape buffalo Bovidae Syncerus caffer caffer, S. c. nanus, S. c. brachyceros, S. c. aequinoctialis, S. c. mathewsi 639.6–835.1 kg (1,410–1,841 lb)[12]
12 American bison Bovidae Bison bison 544–907 kg (1,199–2,000 lb)[13]

See also

Wikispecies has information related to Mammalia.

Notes

  1. ^ Entries are ordered by the median or mean body mass (in that order of preference), if available, or otherwise by the geometric mean of the body mass range limits.
  2. ^ The domestic water buffalo (Bubalus bubalis) also occurs as feral populations, sometimes in sympatry with Bubalus arnee.[10]

References

  1. ^ ©G.Ellis/GLOBIO.org;Animals: The Animal Kingdom; Largest Living Animal on Land Archived 2012-04-25 at the Wayback Machine Retrieved 2011
  2. ^ Stanford News Service Stanford News Service Retrieved April 3, 2016
  3. ^ a b c Larramendi, A. (2015). "Proboscideans: Shoulder Height, Body Mass and Shape" (PDF). Acta Palaeontologica Polonica. doi:10.4202/app.00136.2014. S2CID 2092950. Retrieved 23 May 2020. This is the range for 90% of the male population; see Table 8.
  4. ^ Groves, C.P. (1972). "Ceratotherium simum". Mammalian Species (8): 1–6. doi:10.2307/3503966. JSTOR 3503966. See page 1.
  5. ^ Laurie, W.A.; Lang, E.M.; Groves, C.P. (1983). "Rhinoceros unicornis". Mammalian Species (211): 1–6. doi:10.2307/3504002. JSTOR 3504002. Weights are for captive males; see page 1.
  6. ^ Hillman-Smith, A.K.K..; Groves, C.P. (1994). "Diceros bicornis". Mammalian Species (455): 1–8. doi:10.2307/3504292. JSTOR 3504292. See page 2.
  7. ^ Weston, E.M.; Lister, A.M. (2009). "Insular dwarfism in hippos and a model for brain size reduction in Homo floresiensis". Nature. 459 (7243): 85–88. doi:10.1038/nature07922. PMC 2679980. PMID 19424156. Adult range (males plus females; see Supplementary Discussion on page 15 of Supplementary Material); note mean mass = 1,495 kg.
  8. ^ Hall-Martin, A.J. (1977). "Giraffe Weight Estimation Using Dissected Leg Weight and Body Measurements". The Journal of Wildlife Management. 41 (4): 740–745. doi:10.2307/3799999. JSTOR 3799999. Male weight range, from Table 1.
  9. ^ Ahrestani, F.S. (2018). "Bos frontalis and Bos gaurus (Artiodactyla: Bovidae)". Mammalian Species. 50 (959): 34–50. doi:10.1093/mspecies/sey004. Wild male range, from article's 4th page; note median mass = 864 kg.
  10. ^ a b Aryal, A.; Shrestha, T.K.; Ram, A.; Frey, W.; Groves, C.; Hemmer, H.; Dhakal, M.; Koirala, R.J.; Heinen, J.; Raubenheimer, D. (2011). "Call to conserve the Wild Water Buffalo (Bubalus arnee) in Nepal" (PDF). International Journal of Conservation Science. 2 (4): 261–268. Retrieved 2020-05-25. See page 262.
  11. ^ Ahrestani, F.S.; Heitkönig, I.M.A.; Matsubayashi, H.; Prins, H.H.T. (2016). "Grazing and Browsing by Large Herbivores in South and Southeast Asia" (PDF). In Ahrestani, F.S.; Sankaran, M. (eds.). The Ecology of Large Herbivores in South and Southeast Asia. Ecological Studies. Vol. 225. Springer Netherlands. pp. 99–120. doi:10.1007/978-94-017-7570-0_4. ISBN 978-94-017-7568-7. ISSN 0070-8356. Retrieved 2020-05-25. {{cite book}}: |journal= ignored (help) See page 104.
  12. ^ Pienaar, U. de V. (1969). "Observation on developmental biology, growth and some aspects of the population ecology of the African Buffalo (Syncerus caffer caffer Sparrman) in the Kruger National Park". Koedoe. 12 (1). doi:10.4102/koedoe.v12i1.745. ISSN 2071-0771. Combined adult male range for Kruger National Park, South Africa (639.6-767.5 kg; Table 1, page ~56) and East Africa (678.6-835.1 kg; page 36)
  13. ^ Meagher, M. (1986). "Bison bison". Mammalian Species (266): 1–8. doi:10.1093/mspecies/266.1. JSTOR 3504019. Male weight range, page 1.
The Wikibook Dichotomous Key has a page on the topic of: Mammalia


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