List of heaviest land mammals

The heaviest land mammal is the African bush elephant, which has a weight of up to 10.1 t (11.1 short tons). It measures 10–13 ft at the shoulder and consumes around 230 kg (500 lb) of vegetation a day. Its tusks have been known to reach 2.7 m (9 ft) in length, although in modern populations they are most commonly recorded at a length of 0.6–0.9 m (2 ft 0 in – 2 ft 11 in).[1] 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

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RankNameImageFamilyTaxonomy
Classification
Mass[Note 1]
1African bush elephant ElephantidaeLoxodonta africana5,200–10,000 kg (11,500–22,000 lb)[3] [4]
2Asian elephant ElephantidaeElephas maximus: E. m. indicus, E. m. maximus, E. m. sumatranus, E. m. borneensis2,400–8,000 kg (5,300–17,600 lb) [5] [4]
3African forest elephant ElephantidaeLoxodonta cyclotis1,700–6,000 kg (3,700–13,200 lb)[6]
4White rhinoceros RhinocerotidaeCeratotherium simum: Ceratotherium simum cottoni, C. s. simum3,000–4,500 kg (6,600–9,900 lb)[7]
5Hippopotamus HippopotamidaeHippopotamus amphibius: H. a. amphibius, H. a. kiboko, H. a. capensis, H. a. tschadensis, H. a. constrictus1,210–4,500 kg (2,670–9,920 lb)[8] [9]
6Indian rhinoceros RhinocerotidaeRhinoceros unicornis2,070–4,000 kg (4,560–8,820 lb) [10] [11]
7Black rhinoceros RhinocerotidaeDiceros bicornis: D. b. minor, D. b. michaeli, D. b. longipes850–2,896 kg (1,874–6,385 lb)[12]
8Javan rhinoceros RhinocerotidaeRhinoceros sondaicus900–2,300 kg (2,000–5,100 lb)[13]
9Giraffe GiraffidaeGiraffa camelopardalis: G. c. camelopardalis, G. c. reticulata, G. c. angolensis, G. c. antiquorum, G. c. tippelskirchi, G. c. rothschildi, G. c. giraffa, G. c. thornicrofti, G. c. peralta700–2,000 kg (1,500–4,400 lb)[14][15]
10Gaur BovidaeBos gaurus: B. g. gaurus, B. g. readei, B. g. hubbacki440–1,500 kg (970–3,310 lb)[16]
11Cattle BovidaeBos taurus, Bos indicus, Bos primigenius120–1,400 kg (260–3,090 lb)[17][18]
12American bison BovidaeBison bison: B. b. athabascae, B. b. bison540–1,270 kg (1,190–2,800 lb) in wild,[19][20] and a semidomesticated bull weighed 1,724 kg (3,801 lb).[19]
13Wild water buffalo BovidaeBubalus arnee[Note 2]600–1,200 kg (1,300–2,600 lb)[21][22]
14Wild yak BovidaeBos mutus500–1,200 kg (1,100–2,600 lb)[23]
15Giant eland BovidaeTaurotragus derbianus: T. d. derbianus, T. d. gigas400–1,200 kg (880–2,650 lb)[24]
16Gayal BovidaeBos frontalis650–1,000 kg (1,430–2,200 lb)[citation needed]
17European bison BovidaeBison bonasus500–1,000 kg (1,100–2,200 lb)[25][26]
18Sumatran rhinoceros RhinocerotidaeDicerorhinus sumatrensis500–1,000 kg (1,100–2,200 lb)[27]
19Eland BovidaeTaurotragus oryx: T. o. livingstonii, T. o. oryx, T. o. pattersonianus400–1,000 kg (880–2,200 lb)[28][29]
20Bactrian camel CamelidaeCamelus bactrianus, Camelus ferus300–1,000 kg (660–2,200 lb)[30][31]
21Dromedary CamelidaeCamelus dromedarius400–1,000 kg (880–2,200 lb)[32]
22Water buffalo BovidaeBubalus bubalis300–1,000 or 1,100 kg (660–2,200 or 2,430 lb)[33][34]
23Yak BovidaeBos grunniens300–1,000 kg (660–2,200 lb)[35]
24Polar bear UrsidaeUrsus maritimus300–1,000 kg (660–2,200 lb)[36][37][38]
25Brown bear UrsidaeUrsus arctos: U. a. arctos, U. a. collaris, U. a. beringianus, U. a. isabellinus, U. a. gobiensis, U. a. lasiotus, Ursus arctos marsicanus, U. a. syriacus, U. a. pruinosus, U. a. horribilis, U. a. gyas,U. a. middendorffi, U. a. sitkensis, U. a. stikeenensis, U. a. nelsoni, U. a. crowtheri150–1,000 kg (330–2,200 lb)[39][40][41][42]
26KoupreyBovidaeBos sauveli680–910 kg (1,500–2,010 lb)[43][26]
27Banteng BovidaeBos javanicus: B. j. javanicus, B. j. lowi, B. j. birmanicus590–900 kg (1,300–1,980 lb)[44]
28African buffalo BovidaeSyncerus caffer: S. c. caffer, S. c. nanus, S. c. brachyceros, S. c. mathewsi, S. c. aequinoctialis300–870 kg (660–1,920 lb)[45][46]
29Moose CervidaeAlces alces: A. a. alces, A. a. pfizenmayeri, A. a. cameloides, A. a. buturlini, A. a. americana, A. a. andersoni, A. a. gigas, A. a. shirasi200–820 kg (440–1,810 lb)[47][48][5]
30Elk CervidaeCervus canadensis: C. c. alashanicus, C. c. kansuensis, C. c. macneilli, C. c. manitobensis, C. c. nannodes, C. c. nelsoni, C. c. roosevelti, C. c. xanthopygus, C. c. sibiricus, C. c. songaricus, C. c. wallichii170–600 kg (370–1,320 lb)[49][50]

See also

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Notes

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  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.[21]

References

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  2. ^ Stanford News Service Stanford News Service Retrieved April 3, 2016
  3. ^ Larramendi, A. (2016). "Shoulder height, body mass and shape of proboscideans" (PDF). Acta Palaeontologica Polonica. 61. doi:10.4202/app.00136.2014. S2CID 2092950. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2016-08-24.
  4. ^ a b 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.
  5. ^ a b Wood, The Guinness Book of Animal Facts and Feats. Sterling Pub Co Inc. (1983), ISBN 978-0-85112-235-9
  6. ^ Grubb, Peter; Groves, Colin; Dudley, Joseph; Shoshani, Jeheskel (January 2000). "African forest elephant and african bush elephant". Elephant. 2 (4). doi:10.22237/elephant/1521732169.
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  21. ^ 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.
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  37. ^ Hemstock, p. 4
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