12 Animals That Are Bigger Than You Think, Like a Crab That Measures 12 Feet Across

National Geographic says a Japanese spider crab can span up to 12.5 feet from the tip of one front claw to the other. The average American man is about 5 feet 9 inches tall, so two men lying head to toe would still come up about one foot short.

The crab weighs up to about 42 pounds and lives off Japan, at depths from 164 to 1,640 feet. Young crabs decorate their shells with sponges and anemones for camouflage. The one in the photo lives at the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago.

The shoebill of East Africa’s swamps stands 3.5 to 5 feet tall and has an 8-foot wingspan. The average American woman is about 5 feet 3.5 inches tall, so a big shoebill can look her almost in the eye.

Its foot-long bill is shaped like a Dutch clog, yet the whole bird weighs only 11 to 12 pounds. Its closest relatives are pelicans.

Moose are the largest of all deer. They stand 5 to 6.5 feet at the shoulder and can weigh 1,800 pounds, and a bull’s antlers can spread 6 feet from end to end. With the average American man at about 5 feet 9 inches, the top of a big moose’s back is higher than his head.

Moose are also good swimmers. They have been seen paddling several miles at a time and can stay underwater for 30 seconds or more. The bull in the photo was browsing in Anchorage, Alaska.

As the largest fish in the sea, the whale shark can reach 40 feet or more, and National Geographic puts its weight at about 20.6 tons. Its size chart sets it next to a bus. In the photo, the diver at the top left looks tiny next to one.

For all that size, it is a filter feeder. It swims near the surface with its huge mouth open, and its favorite meal is plankton.

The capybara is the largest rodent in the world. San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance says it weighs 60 to 174 pounds and is 3.2 to 4.2 feet long. The CDC puts the average weight of American women at 171.8 pounds, so a big capybara is about as heavy as a grown person.

Yet it stands only about 2 feet at the shoulder. It has slightly webbed feet and can stay underwater for up to five minutes.

Andean condors are the largest raptors in the world, with wings up to 10.5 feet across and a body up to 4.25 feet long. Two average American women, each about 5 feet 3.5 inches tall, lying head to toe would measure about 10.6 feet, almost exactly the same.

Males weigh up to about 33 pounds. With help from partners including the San Diego Zoo, 79 Andean condors have been released in Colombia and Venezuela since 1989.

Steller’s sea eagles live in northeast Asia, and their wings can stretch up to 8 feet, bigger than the tallest NBA players. One stray has been wandering North America since August 2020, when it was photographed in Alaska. Birdwatchers have since followed it to Texas, Quebec, Massachusetts and Newfoundland.

When it turned up at Terra Nova National Park in Newfoundland in December 2024, the park, which usually closes for the winter, temporarily opened a road so birdwatchers and photographers could see it.

The Goliath frog of Western Africa’s rainforests grows up to 12.5 inches long in the body and can weigh up to 7.2 pounds. San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance says that makes it as big as some house cats. With its legs stretched out, it measures up to 29.5 inches.

It lives near fast rivers and waterfalls and can jump almost 10 feet forward.

A full-grown giant Pacific octopus usually weighs more than 50 pounds, and its arms often span more than 13 feet. The heaviest one on record weighed 200 pounds and measured nearly 20 feet across, according to Monterey Bay Aquarium. The average American man weighs 199 pounds.

Giant Pacific octopuses live about three to five years, which is a long life for an octopus.

The giant manta ray is the world’s largest ray, with a wingspan of up to 26 feet. Four average American women lying head to toe would measure about 21 feet. In the photo, a diver swims underneath one.

Like the whale shark, it lives on tiny food: it filters zooplankton out of the water. Ecuador’s waters hold the largest known population of more than 22,000 giant mantas.

The atlas moth is native to parts of Asia, from India and China to Malaysia and Indonesia. Its wings can stretch up to 27 centimeters, about 10.6 inches, which London’s Natural History Museum describes as wider than a human handspan.

Its caterpillars grow up to 12 centimeters long, almost 5 inches, and up to an inch thick.

Fully grown male northern elephant seals can be over 13 feet long and weigh nearly 4,400 pounds. That is longer than two average men lying head to toe and about as heavy as 22 of them. Females grow to about 10 feet and 1,300 pounds.

By 1910, fewer than 1,000 were left. Mexico protected them in 1922, and the United States soon followed. By 2010, there were an estimated 210,000 to 239,000, and they breed on California beaches such as Point Reyes.