The blue whale (Balaenoptera musculus) is a marine mammal belonging to the baleen whales (Mysticeti). At 30 metres (98 ft) in length and 170 tonnes (190 short tons) or more in weight, it is the largest known animal ever to have existed. Long and slender, the blue whale's body can be various shades of bluish-grey dorsally and somewhat lighter underneath. There are at least three distinct subspecies: B. m. musculus of the North Atlantic and North Pacific, B. m. intermedia of the Southern Ocean and B. m. brevicauda (also known as the pygmy blue whale) found in the Indian Ocean and South Pacific Ocean. B. m. indica,
found in the Indian Ocean, may be another subspecies. As with other
baleen whales, its diet consists almost exclusively of small crustaceans known as krill.
Human Compared To Blue Whale Blue whales were abundant in nearly all the oceans on Earth until the beginning of the twentieth century. For over a century, they were hunted almost to extinction by whalers
until protected by the international community in 1966. A 2002 report
estimated there were 5,000 to 12,000 blue whales worldwide, located in at least five groups. More recent research into the Pygmy subspecies suggests this may be an underestimate. Before whaling, the largest population was in the Antarctic, numbering approximately 239,000 (range 202,000 to 311,000). There remain only much smaller (around 2,000) concentrations in each of the eastern North Pacific, Antarctic, and Indian Ocean groups. There are two more groups in the North Atlantic, and at least two in the Southern Hemisphere.
The General Sherman is a giant sequoia (Sequoiadendron giganteum) tree located in the Giant Forest of Sequoia National Park in Tulare County, California. By volume, it is the largest known living single stem tree on Earth. The General Sherman Tree is neither the tallest known living tree on Earth (that distinction belongs to the Hyperion tree, a Coast redwood), nor is it the widest (both the largest cypress and largest baobab have a greater diameter), nor is it the oldest known living tree on Earth (that distinction belongs to the Methuselah tree, a Great Basin bristlecone pine).With a height of 83.8 metres (275 ft), a diameter of 7.7 metres (25 ft), an estimated bole volume of 1,487 cubic metres (52,513 cu ft), and an estimated age of 2,300–2,700 years, it is among the tallest, widest and longest-lived of all trees on the planet.
While the General Sherman is the largest currently living tree, it is not the largest tree known to humans. The Crannell Creek Giant, a coast redwood (Sequoia sempervirens) near Trinidad, California, is estimated to have been 15 to 25% larger than the General Sherman tree by volume. The tree was cut down in the mid-1940s.
Height above base
274.9 ft
83.8 m
Circumference at ground
102.6 ft
31.3 m
Maximum diameter at base
36.5 ft
11.1 m
Diameter 4.5 ft (1.4 m) above height point on ground
The Nile is a major north-flowing river in northeastern Africa, generally regarded as the longest river in the woIt
is 6,650 km (4,130 miles) long. The Nile is an "international" river as
its water resources are shared by eleven countries, namely, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Ethiopia, Eritrea, South Sudan, Sudan and Egypt.In particular, the Nile is the primary water resource and life artery for Egypt and Sudan.
The Nile has two major tributaries, the White Nile and Blue Nile. The White Nile is longer and rises in the Great Lakes region of central Africa, with the most distant source still undetermined but located in either Rwanda or Burundi. It flows north through Tanzania, Lake Victoria, Uganda and South Sudan. The Blue Nile is the source of most of the water and fertile soil. It begins at Lake Tana in Ethiopia at 12°02′09″N037°15′53″E and flows into Sudan from the southeast. The two rivers meet near the Sudanese capital of Khartoum.
The northern section of the river flows almost entirely through desert, from Sudan into Egypt, a country whose civilization
has depended on the river since ancient times. Most of the population
and cities of Egypt lie along those parts of the Nile valley north of Aswan, and nearly all the cultural and historical sites of Ancient Egypt are found along riverbanks. The Nile ends in a large delta that empties into the Mediterranean Sea.
Modern Times Forever (Stora Enso Building, Helsinki)
Modern Times Forever (Stora Enso Building, Helsinki) is a 2011 film by Danish artists' group Superflex. It is currently the longest film ever made, lasting 240 hours (10 days). The film shows centuries of decay, compressed into the span of the film, marking Helsinki's Stora Enso
headquarters building. The film was originally screened in front of the
building itself on a 40m2 screen so people could see the original
building simultaneously to the one on the screen. The film was directed
by the BBC.
The flower of Rafflesia arnoldii grows to a diameter of around one meter (3 ft) and weighs up to 11 kilograms (24 lb). It lives as a parasite on the Tetrastigma vine, which grows only in primary (undisturbed) rainforests. Rafflesia lacks any observable leaves, stems or even roots, yet is still considered a vascular plant. Similar to fungi, individuals grow as thread-like strands of tissue completely embedded within and in intimate contact with surrounding host cells from which nutrients and water are obtained. This plant produces no leaves, stems or roots and does not have chlorophyll
It can only be seen when it is ready to reproduce. Perhaps the only part of Rafflesia
that is identifiable as distinctly plant-like are the flowers;
although, even these are unusual since they attain massive proportions,
have a reddish-brown coloration and stink of rotting flesh. This scent
attracts insects such as flies which then pollinate the rare plant. It is not to be confused with the titan arum, Amorphophallus titanum, which is also commonly referred to as the "corpse flower" because of its repulsive odor.
Was a giant 700-pound snake recently killed in Proctor, North Carolina Two photographs showing what appear to be absolutely enormous snakes are currently going viral over 700 lbs, 98 feet long, man-killers, found in North Carolina, found in Indonesia the snake was found in a lake in Proctor, North Carolina,
before being killed and pulled from there by an excavation machine. The
snake is generally described as being somewhere around 46 to 98 feet
long. There are some clear issues with those numbers though — there are
no snake species (currently in the world) that grow to anywhere near
those lengths, and perhaps more importantly, the snake in the photo is
much closer to the camera than any of the other objects in the photo
are, thus giving an exaggerated sense of size. It is clear though that even with exaggeration, that is a very large
snake. Something to note — the largest snake specimen ever reported
(reputably) was a 32-foot-long reticulated python (Python reticulatus)
that was caught in Indonesia in the early 1900s. It is likely possible
that they could grow larger, but those would be truly exceptional
individuals, and even then they wouldn’t approach the sizes that the
above snake is described as being.
As a side note — the largest snake species to ever exist on the Earth
(as far as we know currently), was the titanoboa, which lived somewhere
around 58-60 million years ago. Titanoboa cerrejonensis is
estimated to have regularly reached sizes of 40-50 feet in length, and
2000-2500 lbs. It’s thought that the warmer climate at the time may have
been part of what allowed the species to reach such gigantic sizes. The
species arose shortly after the End-Cretaceous extinction event though, so the loss of large dinosaur may have had something to do with it as well. And as a second side note — while it isn’t a snake, there is an animal
that looks a good deal like one, one that grows to lengths like those
described in the viral photos — the giant oarfish can grow to lengths of over 50 feet long. The strange and beautiful animal is the likely origin of sea serpent legends.
