Largest organisms

This article lists the largest organisms for various types of life and mostly considers extant species,^[a] 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 the quaking aspen tree, is widely considered to be the largest such organism by mass.^[1] Even if such colonies are excluded, trees retain their dominance of this listing, with the giant sequoia being the most massive tree.^[2] In 2006 a huge clonal colony of the seagrass Posidonia oceanica was discovered south of the island of Ibiza. At 8 kilometres (5 mi) across, and estimated at 100,000 years old,^[3] it may be one of the largest and oldest clonal colonies on Earth.^[4][5][6]

Among animals, the largest species are all marine mammals, specifically whales. The blue whale is believed to be the largest animal to have ever lived.^[7] The living land animal classification is also dominated by mammals, with the African bush elephant being the largest of these.

Cite error: There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or {{efn}} templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}} template or {{notelist}} template (see the help page).