- Bless Shaq for being there to help us compare animal sizes.
We know some animals are big, like elephants or giraffes. But until you actually see one — ideally in its natural habitat — you often can’t quite grasp just how big they actually are.
And then there are the animals that are usually fairly compact but have outlier species that grow to absolutely massive sizes. They can really take you by surprise when you’re expecting something fist-sized and then see an animal the size of three SUVs coming at you.
Here’s a collection of animals that are (or can be) way bigger than what you think.
8. Seals
You may not think of seals as particularly large, especially if you’ve only seen them in aquariums or water parks. Sure, they might be about man-sized in length, but they’re not that big.
Some species, though… For example, let’s look at the elephant seal, whose name should already tell you what to expect.
Elephant seals can grow up to 19 feet long and weigh more than 8 tons. To put that into perspective, that’s as long as the biggest 2023 Ford F-150 pickup — and about twice as heavy.
7. Moose
Plenty of tourists are shocked when they go visit the northern States or Canada and see their first bull moose. They knew they were big, but they’re that big?!
An adult moose can be about 7 feet tall at the shoulders — and occasionally they grow even bigger. At the same time, they’re on average more than 10 feet long, with the antlers having a span of around 6 feet.
To get an approximation of a moose, take three Shaquille O’Neals, stretch one of them out by about half, and lay him sideways on top of the other Shaqs’ heads. I’m not actually sure if that makes picturing a moose’s size easier, but enjoy the mental image.
6. Jellyfish
Most jellyfish are pretty small. The ones you see washed up on the beach are generally about palm-sized and others (the worst ones) are much smaller.
But then there’s the lion’s mane jellyfish. First of all, it’s bell (that’s the “head” of a jellyfish) can be up to 7 feet in diameter — enough for Shaq to lay down on.
And then we get to the tentacles. They can trail 120 feet behind the bell, making the lion’s mane jellyfish one of the longest animals on the planet.
5. Rabbits
Cute, fluffy, cuddly, and small — that’s a rabbit. The Flemish Giant rabbit is all of that, too, except small.
The Flemish Giant is the largest existing breed of a domestic rabbit. These bunnies can be 4 feet long and weigh around 15 pounds on average.
Basically, it’s as big as a medium-sized dog. The Flemish Giant pales in comparison to most other animals on this list, but their size still often comes as a surprise to people.
4. Rays
If we told you manta rays are big, most of you would probably roll your eyes — everybody knows that. But like with the moose, it can be hard to conceive how humongous these weird fish are.
Oceanic manta rays (the bigger of the two manta species) can grow to be up to 9 feet long and 7 feet wide. In mass, they can weigh more than 6.5 tons.
Once again, Shaq could comfortably lie down and stretch out on the back of a manta. Man, he’s really useful for size comparisons.
3. Crabs
Just like jellyfish and rabbits, most crabs aren’t that big. But then a Japanese spider crab crawls by and you scream.
The carapace of the crab isn’t all that impressive, although it can be 16 inches wide. The shocking parts are the legs that can have a stretched-out span of more than 12 feet.
Those long, slender legs are filled with delicious meat, though. Just try not to think how creepy the crab itself looks when you chow down.
2. Salamanders
You know what a salamander is — a small, slimy, occasionally colorful amphibian that likes to hide under rocks. But the Chinese giant salamander doesn’t hide under rocks unless it’s a hefty boulder.
The average giant salamander is about 3.8 feet long, so about half a Shaq. Yet, it can grow up to 5.9 feet long — as big as an adult non-Shaq person.
They also weigh up to 110 pounds. On a creepy note, they can make a noise that sounds disturbingly like a crying human child, which has resulted in their Chinese name “infant fish.”
1. The Blue Whale
It doesn’t matter how big you think a blue whale is. It’s probably bigger than that.
The reason why it’s so hard to understand a blue whale’s size is that too big for you to basically ever see. Unless you’re diving just in the right spot, at most all you’ll see is a huge blowhole or an aerial picture that doesn’t give you any size comparison.
Well, Shaq to the rescue. The biggest known blue whale was 98 feet long, which corresponds to 14 Shaqs laid on top of one another.
That, or about a third of a football field. It’s big.