Giants of the modern age
Discover the largest animals of modern times and their ancestors.
The 21-meter-long skeleton of a fin whale—the second-largest animal in the world after the blue whale—impressively demonstrates how large animals can still grow today. The fin whale and all its relatives evolved from land-dwelling mammals. The Ambulocetus from the Eocene epoch (approx. 50 million years ago) is considered a transitional form in the evolution of whales to life in water.
But true giants can also be found on land. Weighing up to 6.5 tons and with a shoulder height of almost 4 meters, African elephants are the largest land animals of our time. In addition to a fully grown bull, you will also find extinct ancestors such as the American mastodon or the small dwarf elephants, which provide an insight into the diverse family history of elephants.