#large animals

American Bison

goodreads | storygraph

Jess Arndt's striking debut collection confronts what it means to have a body. Boldly straddling the line between the imagined and the real, the masculine and the feminine, the knowable and the impossible, these twelve stories are an exhilarating and profoundly original expression of voice. In “Jeff,” Lily Tomlin confuses Jess for Jeff, instigating a dark and hilarious identity crisis. In “Together,” a couple battles a mysterious STD that slowly undoes their relationship, while outside a ferocious weed colonizes their urban garden. And in “Contrails,” a character on the precipice of a seismic change goes on a tour of past lovers, confronting their own reluctance to move on. Arndt’s subjects are canny observers even while they remain dangerously blind to their own truest impulses. Often unnamed, these narrators challenge the limits of language―collectively, their voices create a transgressive new formal space that makes room for the queer, the nonconforming, the undefined. And yet, while they crave connection, love, and understanding, they are constantly at risk of destroying themselves. Large Animals pitches toward the heart, pushing at all our most tender parts―our sex organs, our geography, our words, and the tendons and nerves of our culture.

“The Largest Animal on the Planet for World Wildlife Day 🐋” 

So, I'm sure all of y'all know the typical earthworm, just a few inches long, the type of little guy you find under a rock or in the dirt after a rainstorm, right?

Well, then you have these guys:

[Image ID: Invertebrate ecologist Beverley Van Praagh holding a Giant Gippsland Earthworm with arms outstretched to show its length / Credit and Source: Rodney Start and Museums Victoria]

These gigantic worms are about 1 metre (3 feet, 3 inches) long, are 2 centimeters (0.79 inches) in diameter on average, and can get up to 3 metres (9 feet, 10 inches) long, yet are still only 200 grams (0.44 pounds) on average! Even their babies are 20 centimeters (7.9 inches) long when they hatch!!

Speaking of the babies, they take a shockingly long time (for an earthworm) to mature! They can reportedly take up to 5 years to reach maturity.

These guys, are, perhaps unsurprisingly, native to Australia (in a relatively small section of Gippsland in Victoria), and only live underground, about 52 centimeters (20 inches) down, in moist clay, near water, and arent really spotted often because of this- However despite the fact they're typically very slow, if they move fast enough in their burrows they can be detected. Why, you may ask? Because it makes a sound, one that sounds like gurgling or sucking apparently.

This species of worm is really fascinating (as are earthworms in general)! and I also feel it's necessary to bring up the fact it's also considered to be endangered

Here's some more reading on this species for those who are interested:

Small skink, currently unidentified.

Scincidae

Argentinosaurus is one of the biggest land animals ever known, possibly the biggest, and the biggest known dinosaur. It reached 30-35 meters (98-115 ft) and 60-75 tonnes (66-83 short tons).