Tallest Animals in the World: Giraffes, Elephants and More

How is an animal’s height measured?

Height is measured in different ways for different animals, so comparisons need care. For giraffes and birds, height usually means total standing height, from the ground to the top of the head. For elephants, deer, camels and cattle, it usually means shoulder height, because the head can be raised or lowered. Bears are tallest when they rear up on their hind legs, which they do to look and smell around them.

The figures below are typical ranges for wild adults, followed by well-documented records where they exist. Males are larger than females in most of these species.

The tallest animals at a glance

1. Giraffe: the tallest animal on Earth

The giraffe of the African savanna is the tallest land animal by a wide margin. Fully grown giraffes stand 4.3–5.7 m (14–19 ft) tall, and adult males weigh about 1,200 kg (2,600 lb) on average. A newborn calf is already 1.7–2 m (5 ft 7 in–6 ft 7 in) tall and can run within hours of birth.

The neck can be up to 2.4 m (7.9 ft) long, yet it contains only seven vertebrae, the same number as a human neck; each bone is simply more than 28 cm (11 in) long. To push blood all the way up to the brain, a giraffe’s heart weighs about 11 kg (25 lb) and produces roughly double the blood pressure of a human heart. Giraffes regularly feed on leaves up to about 4.5 m (15 ft) above the ground, out of reach of almost every other browser. For more detail, read How tall is a giraffe?

Why did giraffes get so tall?

Charles Darwin suggested that giraffes evolved long necks to reach leaves that smaller browsers such as kudu, impala and steenbok could not, especially in dry seasons. This “competing browsers” idea makes sense, because giraffes really do feed higher than any rival.

In 1996, biologists proposed a different idea, often called “necks for sex”: male giraffes swing their heavy necks at each other in fights called necking, and longer, heavier necks could help them win mates. Males do have thicker, heavier necks than females. However, a 2024 study found that females have proportionally longer necks than males, which suggests that reaching more food, important for mothers feeding young, was a major driver. Many scientists think both pressures, along with better vigilance for predators, played a part.

2. African bush elephant: the tallest after the giraffe

The African bush elephant is the largest land animal and the second tallest. Under good conditions, fully grown bulls stand 3–3.4 m (10–11 ft) at the shoulder and weigh 5.2–6.9 tonnes, while females are noticeably smaller. The tallest bull on record measured about 3.96 m (13 ft) at the shoulder, with an estimated weight of 10.4 tonnes.

An elephant’s reach is even more impressive than its height: with its trunk stretched upward, it can take food up to about 7 m (23 ft) off the ground, higher than a giraffe’s head.

3. Asian elephant

Asian elephants are smaller than their African relatives. Fully grown bulls average about 2.75 m (9 ft) at the shoulder and 4 tonnes, and cows about 2.4 m (7 ft 10 in) and 2.7 tonnes. One of the largest on record, measured in Assam, India, in 1924, stood 3.43 m (11.3 ft) at the shoulder. The highest point of an Asian elephant is the top of its head or back, while an African elephant’s shoulders are its highest point. Compare them in African vs Asian elephant.

4. Brown bears standing upright

On all fours, a brown bear stands only about 0.9–1.5 m (3–5 ft) at the shoulder. When it rears up on its hind legs, a large grizzly can reach about 2.4 m (8 ft), and a big male Kodiak bear from Alaska’s Kodiak Archipelago about 3 m (9.8 ft). Polar bears, which stand up to about 1.6 m (5.2 ft) at the shoulder, are similarly impressive when upright. Bears usually stand to get a better view or catch a scent, not to attack.

5. Common ostrich: the tallest bird

The common ostrich of Africa is the tallest and heaviest living bird. Males stand 2.1–2.75 m (6 ft 11 in–9 ft) tall and weigh 100–130 kg (220–290 lb), and females are about 1.75–1.9 m (5 ft 9 in–6 ft 3 in) tall. Much of that height is neck and long, powerful legs, which make the ostrich the fastest bird on land.

Other tall birds include:

• Emu of Australia: 1.5–1.9 m (4.9–6.2 ft), the tallest bird outside Africa.
• Southern cassowary of New Guinea and northern Australia: usually 1.5–1.8 m (4.9–5.9 ft).
• Sarus crane of South Asia, Southeast Asia and northern Australia: up to about 1.8 m (5 ft 11 in), the tallest bird that can fly.

6. Moose: the tallest deer

The moose is the tallest and largest member of the deer family. Adults stand 1.4–2.1 m (4.6–6.9 ft) at the shoulder, and the Alaskan subspecies is the biggest of all. The largest confirmed moose, a bull recorded by the Yukon River in 1897, measured 2.33 m (7 ft 8 in) at the shoulder and weighed 820 kg (1,808 lb). Bulls also carry broad antlers, typically 1.2–1.5 m (3 ft 11 in–4 ft 11 in) across. See How big is a moose?

7. Gaur: the tallest wild cattle

The gaur, a wild ox of South and Southeast Asian forests, is the tallest species of wild cattle. It stands 1.42–2.2 m (4 ft 8 in–7 ft 3 in) at the shoulder, averaging about 1.88 m (6 ft 2 in) in males, and a muscular ridge behind the shoulders adds a few more centimeters. Bulls can weigh around 1,500 kg (3,300 lb).

8. Dromedary camel

The dromedary, or one-humped camel, is the tallest of the three camel species. Adult males usually stand about 1.8–2 m (5.9–6.6 ft) at the shoulder, and the hump rises higher still. Its long legs hold its body well above the hot desert ground, and its long neck lets it browse thorny trees and shrubs that shorter animals cannot reach.

Tallest extinct animals

Some animals of the past dwarfed the giraffe:

• Sauroposeidon, a long-necked sauropod dinosaur from North America, may have been able to raise its head 16.5–18 m (54–59 ft) above the ground, about the height of a six-story building. The estimate is based on a few huge neck vertebrae.
• Giraffatitan, a brachiosaur from Tanzania, could probably raise its head about 13.5 m (44 ft) high.
• Paraceratherium, a hornless relative of rhinos that lived in Asia about 34–23 million years ago, stood about 4.8 m (15.7 ft) at the shoulder and weighed an estimated 15–20 tonnes, one of the largest land mammals ever.
• Moa, extinct flightless birds of New Zealand: the largest, Dinornis, reached about 3.6 m (12 ft) with its neck stretched upward, though it probably carried its head lower most of the time.

Some Ice Age elephants were also taller than today’s species; the steppe mammoth averaged about 4 m (13 ft) at the shoulder in males. Discover more giants in Ice Age animals.