Why is the Blue whale, at 98 feet, considered the largest animal

They're counting weight. The largest recorded blue whale was 190 tonnes, but there has been larger specimens that weren't recorded so it's safe to say they can get heavier. Also weighing whales is difficult, because it's done in pieces.

>>2015061
>it's done in pieces.
I suppose you COULD do it that way, but it's probably much easier to just calculate their displacement.

Because largest is about mass.
If you're going by length, a bootlace worm is larger than a blue whale.

>>2015065
Yeah, stick a Whale in the bath and shout Eureka, or alternatively calculate the volume of the ocean before and after adding the whale to it. I think removal of the whale from the water and killing it is the only practical way of doing it.

>>2015532
you're funny.

but no. what you do is photograph the animal from a couple different angles and then measure it. Build a 3D model to scale and calculate displacement. Then if you were really ambitious you could produce a little chart that tells you how much a whale of any length would weigh.

or, you know, kill it and cut it up and weigh it and then pretend you didn't lose 20 tons of blood in the process.

>>2015542

What?

It's not as simple as that...

2 objects of the same volume can weigh completely different amounts. All you're doing is calculating the size of the object. Also..how do you measure displacement in an ocean? You're just measuring the size of the whale...

>>2015553
>2 objects of the same volume can weigh completely different amounts.
of course, but we know the density of something that's neutrally buoyant in sea water.

and we know the weight of sea water.
so all we need is the displacement.

>>2015553
>..how do you measure displacement in an ocean?
a volume of whale is exactly the same size as an equal volume of seawater. The volume (size) of the whale is the same as the displacement.

>>2015605

>neutrally buoyant

>doesn't understand how marine animals stay buoyant

>>2015605

>massive log of wood floats
>must weigh as much as a feather

...

>>2015642
>floats

it weighs the same as a duck.

>>2015639
>doesn't understand how marine animals stay buoyant
I understand exactly how they stay buoyant.

if it weren't for their lungs they'd sink. Since we know the average density of meat, blood and bone, it's not hard to calculate how much air (lung volume) is necessary to float a certain mass.

not that it's important, since that lung volume also displaces water and the animal is on average the same weight as water. So displacement is a sufficient measure of weight.

>>2015642
whales don't float like logs or feathers do...

Armarillia tabescens has both the blue whale and your dinosaur beat.

>>2015653

whales float like witches float because they're made of wood

>>2015664
>Armarillia tabescens
It's also not an animal.

>>2015667

Yeah, fungus is superior to animals

It's more evolved

>>2015766
I'd put down money that whoever drew that is fat.

>>2015766
this is so many kinds of wrong

>>2016838
Whats wrong about it?

>>2015766
>size chart of the "largest animals"
>Using a sauropod that isn't even close to the largest one

>>2015059
Because people don't want to accept realistic masses for dinosaurs. I partly blame end of history nonsense - after all the largest animal in history MUST be with US, because we're king shit. We've been undervaluing the sizes of Sauropods forever because we've ignored things like intervertebral disks when calculating their sizes.

>>2017564
>largest living animals today are whales, which are from no country but multiple oceans
>largest land animals today live in Africa
>largest land mammal ever lived in Eurasia(Paraceratherium)
>largest living reptile lives in australia and southern asia
>largest dinosaur to date lived in south america

The fuck you going on about? Of course tons of them would also be found in North America too. It's almost as if this continent is fucking massive and used to be attached to other ones.

>>2017567
Are you ok
they said "us" not "the US"

>>2017564
I always believed in the "Jurassic Park" / "Walking with Dinosaurs" sizes. The dinosaur sizes are now very underwhelming and disappointing to me.