Our Spectacular Planet

The largest bat species is the Giant golden-crowned flying fox (Acerodon jubatus), a rare fruit bat and endangered species that is part of the megabat family. Despite its name and superficial appearance, it is not closely related to the fox. It is active at night and can fly long distances up to 40 kilometers while hunting for food, eating a variety of fruits. Its favorite food is the ripe fig. Called the ...

The cheetah is the fastest land animal, reaching speeds between 112 and 120 km/h (70 and 75 mph) in short bursts covering distances up to 460 m (1,500 ft), and has the ability to accelerate from 0 to 110 km/h (68 mph) in three seconds, faster than most supercars! Recent studies confirm the cheetah's status as fastest land animal. Adaptations that enable the cheetah to run as fast as it does include ...

The Eastern Lowland Gorilla (Gorilla beringei graueri) is a subspecies of Eastern Gorilla that is now only found in the forests of eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. This subspecies is more robust in appearance than the Western Lowland Gorilla, having longer teeth, a stronger jaw and a broader torso. They have black coats which in males, like other gorillas, turns silver at the back as the animal matures. The Eastern Lowland ...

The largest living bird, a member of the Struthioniformes, is the ostrich (Struthio camelus) reaching a height of over 2.7 m (9 ft) and weighing over 156 kg (345 lb).  It is the only living species of its family, Struthionidae, and its genus, Struthio. Ostriches share the order Struthioniformes with the Emu, kiwis, and other ratites. With a such size, the ostrich lays the largest egg of any bird species.  An ostrich egg may weight up ...

The whale shark, Rhincodon typus, is a slow moving filter feeding shark that is the largest living fish species. It can grow up to 12.2 m (40 ft) in length and can weigh up to 13.6 tonnes (15 short tons). This distinctively-marked shark is the only member of its genus Rhincodon and its family, Rhincodontidae (called Rhinodontes before 1984), which is grouped into the subclass Elasmobranchii in the class Chondrichthyes. ...

The ocean sunfish, Mola mola, or common mola is the heaviest bony fish in the world, with an average weight of 1,000 kilograms or about 2,200 pounds. The species is native to tropical and temperate waters around the globe. It resembles a fish head without a tail, and its main body is flattened laterally. Sunfish can be as tall as they are long, when their dorsal and anal fins are ...

The Chinese giant salamander (Andrias davidianus) is the largest salamander in the world, reaching a length of 180 cm (6 ft), although it rarely - if ever - reaches that size today. Endemic to rocky mountain streams and lakes in China, it is considered critically endangered due to habitat loss, pollution and over-collecting, as it is considered a delicacy and used in traditional Chinese medicine. Records from Taiwan may be ...

The Etruscan Shrew (Suncus etruscus) , also known as the Etruscan Pygmy Shrew or the White-toothed Pygmy Shrew is the smallest known mammal by mass, weighing only about 2 grams!   The smallest mature specimens of this shrew are thought to weigh about 1.3 grams and measure 36 mm (1.42 inches) long. This small mammal is 60 mm from the tip of the nose to the base of the tail; the tail ...

    A newly discovered genus of fish that includes one of the world's smallest known fish and smallest known vertebrates, Paedocypris progenetica. Two species of Paedocypris were found living in highly acidic peat wetlands on the Indonesian island of Sumatra and in the Malaysian part of Borneo. Paedocypris progenetica, a distant cousin of the carp, is thin, transparent, and the size of a large mosquito when fully grown. A mature female specimen ...

The Blue Whale (Balaenoptera musculus) is believed to be the largest animal to have ever lived. The maximum recorded weight was 190 tonnes (209 tons) and 30 m (100 ft) long, while longer ones, up to 33.3 m (110 ft), have been recorded but not weighed.