Record breakers

The largest, fastest, deepest and longest-lived animals known.

• Blue WhaleBalaenoptera musculus
• Peregrine FalconFalco peregrinus
• Sperm WhalePhyseter macrocephalus
• Common OstrichStruthio camelus
• Whale SharkRhincodon typus
• Giant SquidArchiteuthis dux
• African Bush ElephantLoxodonta africana
• Emperor PenguinAptenodytes forsteri
• Greenland SharkSomniosus microcephalus

About this list

The blue whale is the largest animal that has ever lived, exceeding any dinosaur known from reasonably complete remains. The peregrine falcon is the fastest, though only in a stoop — in level flight several birds beat it. The Greenland shark is the longest-lived vertebrate, with radiocarbon dating of eye lens nuclei suggesting individuals several centuries old.

Records of this kind are worth treating carefully. Many circulate as folklore, and the measured figure is often well below the one in general circulation.