The Blue Whale Is the Largest Animal Ever to Live

The largest animal known is alive today and lives in the ocean. NOAA Fisheries states that blue whales are the largest animals ever to live on our planet. The agency lists a length of up to 110 feet and a weight of up to 330,000 pounds, and it notes that these upper figures apply to Antarctic blue whales. NOAA places the species in the baleen whale family, also called the great whales, and describes it as the largest of the rorquals, a group within that family. The phrase ever to live is the important part of the claim. It means the comparison is not limited to animals alive now, and covers every animal known to have existed.