The 5 Greatest Puppies in the Animal Kingdom

5. Rhinos

The average size of an adult rhino is slightly smaller than that of a hippo. Moms of this species carry their young for 15 or 16 months, and when they give birth, babies will weigh up to 63 kg and are just over half a meter tall.

4. Hippos

An adult hippopotamus is 1.5 meters tall, 5 meters long and over 1, 500 pounds! After 8 months of gestation, a “hypo” baby is born with 45 kg and just over 1 meter in length.

A curious fact: the Greek name hippo means “river horse” and moms have their young in the water.

3. Elephants

Largest land animals, elephants also have the longest gestation period among mammals: about 22 months. When a puppy comes into the world, it is only 1/40 the size of an adult, less than 1 meter and approximately 70 kg.

These little babies are completely dependent on their mothers, since they are born blind and breastfed for 3 years.

2. Giraffes

Although not very heavy there - about 70 kg -, the giraffe pups are born tall: almost 2 meters. Therefore, they are second in the list of largest babies among animals. Interestingly, giraffe moms get their pups upright: that means the giraffe will fall from a height of about 6 meters when it comes into the world. But don't worry: besides not getting hurt, they still walk after only 1 hour.

1. Blue Whales

It has no one: Blue whales are the largest animals that ever lived on Earth. Adults can be up to 30 meters and weigh around 200 tons! So it's no surprise to imagine that your puppies are quite big.

According to National Geographic, blue whale babies take 1 year to grow inside their mother and are born at about 7 meters and 3 tons! Feeding only on breast milk, the “little ones” average 90 kg a day in their first year of life.

Bonus

Kiwi - the largest proportional egg in the world

I know, it's very weird to have a little bird on the list of the biggest chicks in the world, but you'll already understand why. The kiwi bird deserves prominence not for its baby's size but for its egg: kiwis lay eggs that correspond to a quarter of their body weight! It would be the same as a 60kg woman having a 15kg baby.

But what is the reason why such a small bird has such a large egg? There is a theory that kiwifruit used to be much larger, the size of an ostrich. However, with evolution, the bird decreased, but its egg did not.