At first glance, it may seem that the longest animal on Earth is logically the largest of all existing creatures - the blue whale, whose length reaches 35 meters. However, this is not at all the case!
Instructions
Step 1
The longest animal on Earth is the tapeworm. Its Latin name is lineus longissimus. This outwardly unpleasant creature can reach a length of 60 meters. It turns out that the giant tapeworm is twice as long as the largest animal on Earth (the blue whale).
Step 2
The body of the longest creature in the world is very thin - no more than 1 centimeter in diameter. This creature has one unique feature: it can stretch in such a way that it easily breaks every conceivable and inconceivable record in length. In other words, in a calm and relaxed state, this worm reaches about 30 meters, but as soon as it starts to stretch, its length reaches 60 meters. Outwardly, in this state, this worm resembles a long cord.
Step 3
Juveniles of these creatures are colored olive brown or dark brown, while adults are reddish brown or black. The giant tapeworm lives off the coastlines in northwestern Europe, around the British Isles, in the northeast Atlantic, and along the Norwegian coast to the North and Baltic Seas.
Step 4
The longest animal on Earth is both a carnivore and a scavenger. However, judging by the speed of its movement, then lineus longissimus is more a scavenger than a predator. This creature is quite voracious. The worm catches its prey in the following way: it shoots at it with a long tube on which there are sticky and poisonous hooks.
Step 5
Lineus longissimus moves by muscular contractions of its body (like other worms). Zoologists who watched the movement of the longest worm in the world noted that during movement, it either shrinks or stretches almost twice! The muscles of the tapeworm also have another function: they pump its blood. The fact is that the giant tapeworm (like all other worms) does not have a heart, therefore these creatures are considered primitive organisms.
Step 6
The very first description of this type of tapeworm dates back to 1770. Lineus longissimus has been described by the Norwegian naturalist Johan Gunnerus as Ascaris longissima. Zoologists classify tapeworms as inferior worms. Currently, about one thousand species of these animals have been described. It is curious that most of them live in the seas, and not in coastal zones, as the longest animal in the world does.
