World at Large

Largest Flower of the World

Rafflesia arnoldii is a member of the genus Rafflesia. It is noted for producing the largest individual flower on earth, and a strong odor of decaying flesh - the latter point earning it the nickname of "corpse flower". It is an endemic plant that occurs only in the rainforests of SumatraIsland, Indonesia. Although there are some plants with larger flowering organs like the Titan Arumand Talipot palm, those are technically clusters of many flowers.

Rafflesia arnoldii (Indonesian: padma raksasa) is one of the three national flowers in Indonesia, the other two being the white jasmine and moon orchid.[1] It was officially recognized as a national "rare flower" (Indonesian: puspa langka) in Presidential Decree No. 4 in 1993.[2]

Largest Fruit of the World

The jackfruit (Artocarpus heterophyllus)[1] is a species of tree in the Artocarpus genus of themulberry family (Moraceae). It is native to parts of South and Southeast Asia, and is believed to have originated in the southwestern rain forests of India, in present-day Kerala and coastal Karnataka. This tree is widely cultivated in tropical regions of India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka,Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines. Jackfruit is also found in East Africa, e.g., in Uganda and Mauritius, as well as throughout Brazil and Caribbean nations such asJamaica.

The jackfruit tree is well suited to tropical lowlands, and its fruit is the largest tree-borne fruit,[2]reaching as much as 80 pounds (36 kg) in weight and up to 36 inches (90 cm) long and 20 inches (50 cm) in diameter.[3]

Largest Animal of the World

The blue whale (Balaenoptera musculus) is a marine mammal belonging to the suborder ofbaleen whales (called Mysticeti).[3] At 30 metres (98 ft)[4] in length and 180 metric tons (200 short tons)[5] or more in weight, it is the largest known animal to have ever existed.[6]

Long and slender, the blue whale's body can be various shades of bluish-grey dorsally and somewhat lighter underneath.[7] There are at least three distinct subspecies: B. m. musculus of the North Atlantic and North Pacific, B. m. intermedia of the Southern Ocean and B. m. brevicauda(also known as the pygmy blue whale) found in the Indian Ocean and South Pacific Ocean. B. m. indica, found in the Indian Ocean, may be another subspecies. As with other baleen whales, its diet consists almost exclusively of small crustaceans known as krill.[8]

Blue whales were abundant in nearly all the oceans on Earth until the beginning of the twentieth century. For over a century, they were hunted almost to extinction by whalers until protected by the international community in 1966. A 2002 report estimated there were 5,000 to 12,000 blue whales worldwide,[9] located in at least five groups. More recent research into the Pygmy subspecies suggests this may be an underestimate.[10] Before whaling, the largest population was in the Antarctic, numbering approximately 239,000 (range 202,000 to 311,000).[11] There remain only much smaller (around 2,000) concentrations in each of the eastern North Pacific, Antarctic, and Indian Ocean groups. There are two more groups in the North Atlantic, and at least two in theSouthern Hemisphere.

Largest Sea Bird of the World

Albatrosses, of the biological family Diomedeidae, are large seabirds allied to theprocellariids, storm-petrels and diving-petrels in the order Procellariiformes (the tubenoses). They range widely in the Southern Ocean and the North Pacific. They are absent from the North Atlantic, although fossil remains show they once occurred there too and occasional vagrants are found.

Albatrosses are among the largest of flying birds, and the great albatrosses (genusDiomedea) have the largest wingspans of any extant birds. The albatrosses are usually regarded as falling into four genera, but there is disagreement over the number of species. They have a wingspan of 11 feet.

Largest Insect of the World

The longhorn beetles (Cerambycidae; also known as long-horned beetles or longicorns) are a cosmopolitan family of beetles, typically characterized by extremely long antennae, which are often as long as or longer than the beetle's body. In various members of the family, however, the antennae are quite short (e.g., Neandra brunnea, figured below) and such species can be difficult to distinguish from related beetle families such as Chrysomelidae. The family is large, with over 20,000 species described, slightly more than half from the Eastern Hemisphere. Several are serious pests, with the larvae boring into wood, where they can cause extensive damage to either living trees or untreated lumber (or, occasionally, to wood in buildings; the old-house borer,Hylotrupes bajulus, being a particular problem indoors). A number of species mimic ants, bees, and wasps, though a majority of species are cryptically colored. The rare titan beetle (Titanus giganteus) from northeastern South America is often considered the largest (though not the heaviest, and not the longest including legs) insect, with a maximum known body length of just over 16.7 centimetres (6.6 in).[2]

Largest Fish of the World

The whale shark, Rhincodon typus, is a slow-moving filter feeding shark and the largestextant fish species. The largest confirmed individual had a length of 12.65 metres (41.50 ft) and a weight of more than 21.5 tonnes (47,000 lb), and there are unconfirmed reports of considerably larger whale sharks. This distinctively-marked fish is the only member of itsgenus Rhincodon and its family, Rhincodontidae (called Rhiniodon and Rhinodontidae before 1984), which belongs to the subclass Elasmobranchii in the class Chondrichthyes. The species originated about 60 million years ago. 

Largest Reptile of the World

The saltwater crocodile (Crocodylus porosus), also known as the estuarine or Indo-Pacific crocodile, is the largest of all living reptiles. It is found in suitable habitats fromNorthern Australia through Southeast Asia to the eastern coast of India. 

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