11 Giant Animals You Didn't Know Existed!

hi it's katrina from a forest ghost rarely seen to enormous snakes escaping from wildfires here are 11 giant animals you probably didn't know [Music] existed number 11. priya dubia commonly called the giant syphonophore the priodubia is a deep sea invertebrate that can be found in waters throughout the world with a distribution ranging from the north atlantic to the south pacific found at depths between 2 300 and 3 300 feet it is a colony of single animals called zooids each performing a specific function zooids have a symbiotic relationship and cannot survive independently of one another they are all working parts of a whole with specialized roles such as catching prey digesting food reproducing and swimming some even have very long tentacles that can deliver a powerful sting the giant siphonophore is about as thin as a broomstick but it's one of the world's longest sea organisms reaching up to 160 feet long rivaling even the massive blue whale in some cases it swims actively but is docile and slow-moving as it uses its bioluminescence or self-created light to attract prey including small crustaceans and gelatinous organisms such as fish larvae and small fish captured by rovs this long chain of organisms emits a very beautiful glow in the dark waters of the ocean number 10. giant armadillo nicknamed the forest ghost the giant armadillo is the largest living armadillo species reaching up to five feet from snout to tail and weighing as much as 110 pounds twice the size of the next biggest armadillo species it's found throughout south america but is rarely seen despite its size not only are they very hard to find but they are quiet established in 2010 the giant armadillo project aims to expand scientists knowledge about this very elusive creature that we don't know much about they say it's like trying to find a needle in a haystack it was founded by two brazilian organizations the institute for ecological research and the institute for the conservation of wild animals and the organization has made some remarkable discoveries about the enigmatic giant armadillo in recent years the species is nocturnal and solitary spending most of its time within a complex tunnel network that it digs which at least partially explains why it's so seldom spotted it's active for around five hours at night covering around 1.2 miles of distance during this time thanks to the giant armadillo project researchers have also learned that pregnancies last for roughly five months and that mothers typically give birth to a single offspring giant armadillos are fast efficient diggers capable of carving out a vast network of tunnels their claws are bigger than those of a polar bear about five and a half inches long over 70 species were observed making use of the species home likely due to the tunnel's consistent temperature and environments that experienced significant temperature changes this discovery proved how little scientists know about the world underneath us and showed that this obscure species plays a key role in its ecosystem number 9. chinese giant salamander known as a living fossil the chinese giant salamander is a member of the crypto branchidae family which dates back some 170 million years it's one of the world's largest salamanders and amphibians growing up to six feet long and weighing between 55 and 66 pounds on average this oversized amphibian spends most or all of its time in the waters of china's freshwater river ecosystems where it absorbs oxygen through its skin because it has no gills chinese giant salamanders are known to feed on insects amphibians crab shrimp fish and even members of their own species they are nearly blind relying primarily on sensory nodes that detect even the slightest vibrations once common throughout china the species is threatened due mainly to over hunting and habitat destruction despite existing in large numbers in captivity where it is spread for the exotic pet industry as well as its use and natural remedies moreover while these salamander farms seem to prevent the chinese giant salamander from going extinct they cannot make up for the creature's genetic diversity that occurs in the wild number eight world's longest insect discovered in the rainforests of borneo indonesia by a villager in 1989 the chan's mega-stick quickly earned the world record title for the longest insect with its body measuring up to 14 inches alone and its length totaling as much as 22 inches counting its legs only six chance megastick specimens were ever found before a new stick insect species phrygia chinensis zhao nabbed the title for the world's longest insect in 2016 two years after its discovery ciao lee an entomologist with the insect museum of west china in chengdu searched for the species for years based on the accounts of locals he finally found one in a mountainous region of guangxi province in southern china measuring an astounding 24.6 inches long zhao took the specimen back to the museum with him where it laid eggs one of the captively bred offspring grew even larger than its parent reaching 25.2 inches long roughly the length of a young man's arm there are currently over a dozen live specimens on display at the insect museum of west china they are so large their cages are over a meter tall and each cage only holds three specimens number 7. giant otter the giant otter is found throughout north central south america primarily in and along the amazon river as well as the orinoco and la plata river systems it's the longest member of the weasel family reaching up to six feet long more than double the length of the world's smallest otter and weighs as much as 70 pounds with some giant otters likely being even heavier generally speaking giant otters feed on fish including piranhas and they are also known to occasionally prey on other more formidable animals including caimans and anacondas the species has few predators but sometimes falls victim to jaguars its competitiveness owing to its size and speed has earned it the nickname of river wolf equipped with powerful tails webbed feet and water repellent fur giant otters are extremely efficient swimmers they are also extremely social creatures living in groups of up to 20 and sometimes also hunting in groups the species is monogamous and mothers give birth to anywhere between one and six offspring per litter giant otters are endangered for the international union for conservation of nature or the iucn red list due largely to extensive hunting habitat contamination and habitat loss as well as the overfishing of their prey conflicts with fishermen are also a factor as a result the species is fragmented into small subpopulations and will likely need human intervention to recover number 6. 30-foot wild snake wildfires that raged across parts of indonesia in 2019 forced wildlife to desperately scramble for safety with many typically elusive species becoming more visible than usual unfortunately many animals died and locals combating the fires found their charred remains among the creatures who tragically perished in the blaze were large wild snakes including a massive 30-foot python that sadly was burned by the fire with its mouth wide open but this was certainly not the largest snake ever witnessed in the country not by a long shot in 2004 indonesian villagers caught a 49 foot long 983 pound reticulated python that reportedly ate three or four dogs per month which isn't surprising considering the species is known to eat animals as large as sheep and to occasionally even attack and consume humans the creature vastly superseded the previous guinness record holder for the largest snake ever captured which measured 32 feet long and more than doubled the previous title holder for the heaviest snake ever captured a 402 pound burmese python number 5. giant isopod these giant roly-poly looking things are pretty terrifying close up the term giant isopod encompasses around 20 super giant isopod species from the bathynomus genus it is also used to reference the bathynomus giganteus species in particular which is considered the world's largest isopod b giganteus typically grows between seven and a half and 14.2 inches long with the largest recorded specimen measuring 20 inches long who knows how big the ones we haven't seen can get this and other giant isopods resemble the woodlouse or the pillbug they're much smaller terrestrial relative scientists aren't really sure how they are able to get so big but it may be to help them withstand the deep pressure of the ocean their enormous size is characteristic of a condition called deep sea gigantism which is what it sounds like a tendency for deep sea creatures to grow much larger than their shallow water or terrestrial relatives the deeper a giant isopod species dwells the larger it tends to be these deep sea scavengers which are mainly found at depths between 560 and 7020 feet are all over the world these guys can go a very long time without eating but when they do they pretty much binge and can dissolve a sunken whale corpse in a matter of hours number 4. boot lace worm also called ribbon worms or proboscis worms the boot lace worm holds the distinction of being the longest animal on earth but not many people know about it measuring just point two to point four inches wide it can grow up to one hundred and eighty feet long those specimens typically measure between fifteen and fifty feet long when provoked the boot lace worm releases a thick poisonous mucus in a 2018 study published in the journal scientific reports professor ulf goranson of uppsala university in sweden and his colleagues discovered that a peptide toxin in the creature's mucus is capable of paralyzing and killing cockroaches and crustaceans while peptide toxins are found in some warm water creatures like cone snails the bootlace worm dwells in cooler waters and the peptide toxin its mucus contains nematide a1 is the most poisonous substance ever discovered throughout sweden's animal kingdom scientists believe that the effects of nemertide a1 are not as harmful in mammals as they are for invertebrates and they are therefore looking into its potential uses as an insecticide number three giant huntsman spider the giant huntsman spider was discovered in a cave in laos in 2001 by dr peter yager of johannes gutenberg university's institute for zoology it hails from the spiracide family of large fast spiders who actively hunt prey and is considered the world's largest spider by leg span measuring up to one foot in diameter roughly the size of a dinner plate only a few people have had the privilege of seeing a giant huntsman spider which has been misidentified as a tarantula despite its crab-like splayed legs which are uncharacteristic of tarantulas it lives in caves in southeast asia and scientists are unsure why it grows so big one theory put forth by dr jager suggests that the spider's huge size results from its slow growth which is caused by the scarcity of prey in its environment unfortunately the discovery of the giant huntsman spider made it a high demand subject of the exotic pet trade as a result its numbers are dwindling according to jager who hopes that its inability to survive much longer than a year outside its natural habitat drives down the demand for the creature number 2. goliath frog as its name implies the goliath frog is huge in fact it's the world's largest frog reaching up to 13 inches long and weighing as much as 7.2 pounds around the same size as a newborn baby it's found throughout cameroon and equatorial guinea a relatively small range and prefers to live in rainforests in and near fast-flowing rivers and waterfalls these nocturnal creatures have been around for roughly 250 million years they emerged into existence around 20 million years before the dinosaurs and are still here long after the dinosaurs went extinct goliath frogs hunt mainly for insects crustaceans fish and other amphibians although a bat was once found in one's stomach the species like many others on today's list is declining and for numerous reasons poachers capitalize on the demand for the goliath frog's meat and for export including to the u.s which hosts an annual frog jumping competition habitat loss is also a factor thanks to logging farming and human settlements the goliath frog is now legally protected but considering it's continuously dwindling numbers the legislative measures may prove to be too little too late number one chinese paddlefish native to china's yangtze and yellow river basins the chinese paddlefish also called the chinese swordfish was one of the world's largest fish species it spent over 200 million years on earth emerging into existence before the dinosaurs and surviving the mass extinction that killed them ultimately prevailing into modern times the species which reached up to 23 feet long and weighed as much as 100 pounds faced and prevailed through numerous tests of survival over many millennia but it ultimately succumbed to human activity its decline took place mostly throughout the last century by the 1970s around 25 tons of the fish were harvested annually according to national geographic and its existence was ultimately tipped over the edge by dam construction which prevented the chinese paddlefish from reaching its spawning grounds not surprisingly humans underestimate the gravity of the creature's dire situation the last known sighting of a chinese paddlefish occurred in 2003 but by then the damage was long done in fact scientists believe the species became functionally extinct in other words too short in numbers to meaningfully reproduce by 1993. it's estimated that the fish officially went extinct sometime between 2005 and 2010. based on mathematical models and the fruitless search for a living chinese paddlefish researchers concluded that the species could still exist but that it's unlikely having accepted the creature's likely fate scientists are now focused on learning from the mistakes that doomed the chinese paddlefish and preserving other similar at-risk species thanks for watching how many of these animals have you heard of already which one was your favorite let me know in the comments below and be sure to give this video a thumbs up to let me know you want to see more like this remember to subscribe and i'll see you next time bye

Channel: Origins Explained

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Keywords: origins explained, giant animals you didn't know existed, giant animals, giant creatures, biggest animals, biggest creatures, largest animals, largest creatures, biggest wildlife, wild animals, most dangerous animals, deadliest animals, massive animals, massive creatures, biggest snake, largest snake, biggest reptile, giant, creatures, animals, world, biggest, largest, massive, wildlife, nature, earth

Id: 4tvhrT-ls-Q

Length: 15min 32sec (932 seconds)

Published: Sat Nov 21 2020