żyrafy-i-kopytne: Sauropoda

Evidence: 100 • authority: 72

Sauropoda (), whose members are called sauropods (; from sauro- + -pod; lit. 'lizard-footed'), is a clade of saurischian ('lizard-hipped') dinosaurs. Sauropods had very long necks, long tails, small heads (relative to the rest of their body), and four thick, pillar-like legs. They are notable for the enormous sizes attained by some species, and the group includes the largest animals to have ever lived on land. Well-known genera include Alamosaurus, Apatosaurus, Argentinosaurus, Brachiosaurus, Brontosaurus, Camarasaurus, Diplodocus, Dreadnoughtus, and Mamenchisaurus. The oldest known unequivocal sauropod dinosaurs are known from the Early Jurassic. Isanosaurus and Antetonitrus were originall…

Evidence: 66 • authority: 92

Evidence: 75 • authority: 72

This article lists the largest organisms for various types of life and mostly considers extant species, which found on Earth can be determined according to various aspects of an organism's size, such as: mass, volume, area, length, height, or even genome size. Some organisms group together to form a superorganism (such as ants or bees), but such are not classed as single large organisms. The Great Barrier Reef is the world's largest structure composed of living entities, stretching 2,000 km (1,200 mi) but contains many organisms of many types of species. When considering singular entities, the largest organisms are clonal colonies which can spread over large areas. Pando, a clonal colony of…

Evidence: 61 • authority: 92

The evolutionary biomechanics of locomotor function in giant land animals.. Giant land vertebrates have evolved more than 30 times, notably in dinosaurs and mammals. The evolutionary and biomechanical perspectives considered here unify data from extant and extinct species, assessing current theory regarding how the locomotor biomechanics of giants has evolved. In terrestrial tetrapods, isometric and allometric scaling patterns of bones are evident throughout evolutionary history, reflecting general trends and lineage-specific divergences as animals evolve giant size. Added to data on the scaling of other supportive tissues and neuromuscular control, these patterns illuminate how lineages of…

Evidence: 59 • authority: 72

Evidence: 54 • authority: 72

Evidence: 54 • authority: 80

Sauntering Sauropods: The Preferred Walking Speeds of the Largest Land Animals That Ever Lived

Evidence: 47 • authority: 80

Macroevolutionary Trends in the Skull of Sauropodomorph Dinosaurs – The Largest Terrestrial Animals to Have Ever Lived

Evidence: 47 • authority: 72

The largest prehistoric animals include both vertebrate and invertebrate species. Many of them are described below, along with their typical range of size (for the general dates of extinction, see the link to each). Many species mentioned might not actually be the largest representative of their clade due to the incompleteness of the fossil record and many of the sizes given are merely estimates since no complete specimen have been found. Their body mass, especially, is largely conjecture because soft tissue was rarely fossilized. Generally, the size of extinct species was subject to energetic and biomechanical constraints.

Evidence: 39 • authority: 80

"Terrible Crocodile" One of Largest That Ever Lived

Evidence: 39 • authority: 80

This may be the largest parrot that ever lived

Evidence: 39 • authority: 80

Curious Kids: what is the largest penguin that ever lived?