Animals Which Give Birth to Biggest Babies
Giraffes Giraffes make the list not because of their weight — babies weigh only about 110 to 120 pounds — but for their height. Adult giraffes can be 16 to 20 feet tall, and females give birth standing up. That means babies have a long way to fall (over six feet) when they are born.
Hippopotamuses The hippopotamus is the second-largest land animal, with adults ranging from nine and a half to 16 and a half feet in length, and weighing up to 9,900 pounds. Their name comes from the Greek term for “river horse,” which is fitting because these excellent swimmers spend 16 hours a day in the water and can hold their breath for five minutes.
Rhinoceroses The average adult white rhinoceros is only slightly smaller than an average adult hippo, with some growing to 12 feet long and six feet tall and weighing 8,000 pounds. Every two and a half to three years, a female rhino will give birth to a calf after a gestation period of 17 to 18 months. When she gives birth, the baby rhinoceros will stand 2 feet tall and weigh up to 130 pounds.
Blue Whales Blue whales are the largest known animals to have ever lived on Earth: Adults can measure up to 100 feet long and weigh 200 tons. So it's not surprising that when a baby blue whale is born, the calf itself is as big as some of the other largest animals on the planet.
Elephants African elephants are the largest land animal in the world and they also have the longest gestation period of any mammal — around 22 months. When calves finally greet the world, they weigh between 200 and 300 pounds and are about 3 feet tall.
Kiwi Birds Although kiwis chicks don’t come close to large mammal babies in size, they are notable for the size of their egg relative to the female’s body size (egg-to-body weight ratio). This flightless bird lays an egg that weighs about one pound, or 20 percent of its body mass; one of the largest of any bird (by ratio).
Horses Like giraffes, horses make this list for their height, not their weight. After a gestation period of about 11 months, a foal is born with legs that are almost as long as an adult's.
Cows While calves aren't huge, they're notable for two things they have in common with human babies. First, calves weigh about 7 percent of their mother's weight, which is roughly the same proportion as a baby human to its mother.