Some Amazing Mammals...

d The Blue Whale, Balaenoptera musculus, is the largest mammal living today. It is also the largest mammal to have ever lived. In fact the Blue whale is the largest animal ever to have lived on the planet as far as we know; bigger by far than even the largest Dinosaur. The longest Blue Whale ever measured was a female, 33.58 m or 110ft long. The heaviest weighed over 190 tonnes. We haven't actually got a set of weighing scales big enough so weights are estimated from the cut up remains.

d The largest animal on land at the moment on this planet is a mammal; the bull African Elephant. The largest specimen recorded stood around 3.96 m or 13ft at the shoulder and weighed over 12 tonnes.

d The tallest animal on the planet is a mammal - Giraffes, Giraffa camelopardalis, can be 6.1m or 20ft tall.

d The smallest mammal in the world is a bat from Thailand, Kitli's Hog-nosed Bat, Craseonycteris thonglongyai, being only 2.9-3.3 cm or 1.14-1.3 inches long and weighing a mere 1.7-2 g or 0.06 - 0.07oz this bat is well smaller than many insects and snails.

d In a close 2nd place, the Pygmy or Savi's White-toothed Shrew Suncus etruscus weighs in at 1.5 - 2.5 grams or 0.05 - 0.09oz and is definitelyy the smallest land mammal on record.

d The Cheetah, Acinonyx jubatus, is the fastest animal on land, reaching speeds as fast as 96 kmh or 60 mph. The fastest mammal in the water is the Killer Whale, Orcinus orca, which has been recorded swimming at speeds of 55.5 kmh or 34 mph. The fasted mammal in the air is the Big Brown Bat, Eptesicus fuscus, with a recorded flight speed of 25 kmh or 15.5 mph.

d The longest lived mammals are not human beings as many people think, but the whales. Fin Whale Balaenoptera physalis is believed to have a maximum life-span of 90 - 114 years, a little less that the human maximum, but Bowhead Whales (Balaena mysticetus), also known as Greenland Right Whale has been known to live to at least 170 and possibly more than 200 years since the mid 1990s.

d Rhinoceroses have the thickest skin of any terrestrial mammal, and the thickest skin in relation to their size, of any animal. The skin on their backs and flanks can be 2.5 cm or 1 inch thick.