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Scientists Discover New Organism to Claim the Title of Largest in the World

Isn’t nature extraordinary?

Katrina Paulson
4 min readJul 31, 2022
Photo by Andrea Piacquadio on Pexels

We have an obsession with big things, especially in the West. We want big houses, meals, and boats — but it goes further than consumerism. As a species, we’re drawn to things larger than ourselves, physically speaking. We love giant mountains, tall trees, and massive oceans. We also love big ideas and actions.

So, it’s no wonder we’re constantly searching for the biggest of everything, from the tallest person in the world to the largest living organism. Recently, scientists found a new champion to claim the latter as the world’s largest known living organism. It’s so massive, it’s hard to imagine anything that could take its title away anytime soon.

Previous Title Holders

Most of us think of animals when considering the largest living thing on the planet. In that case, the Antarctic blue whale is the winner, weighing an astonishing 400,000 pounds and almost 100 feet long.

Blue whales are impressive for sure, but animals aren’t the only living things on Earth. Over the last two decades, two non-animal organisms have held the title of being the largest on the planet — and they’re much, much larger than an adult blue whale.

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Katrina Paulson
Katrina Paulson

Written by Katrina Paulson

I write about recent discoveries that have the power to shift our perspectives. Check it out! --> https://curiousadventure.substack.com

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