weightinwhales.com

FAQ

OK, so… why?

• Multiple inspirations - largely QI and the Feedback page of New Scientist, which both tend to compare weights to standard animals. Ultimately triggered by an online conversation between friends comparing animal weights.
• Also, as a bit of self-publicity while I was seeking work.
• The site also gained a number of measures during the COVID-19 pandemic as public agencies started finding increasingly inventive ways to express a 6-foot distance.

Are the URLs stable?

• Yes - the site is designed so that if, for some reason, you need to tell a friend how many African Elephants there are in 3.7 Blue Whales, you can do so by sending them a link.

Where are the measurements from? Are they standardised?

• With the exception of the units themselves, all measures are approximate averages.
• Sources & measures are as below. Some rows may not have all measurements as they won't make sense:

  Measure	Category	Mass in Kg	Size in metres		Notes	Source
  African elephant	Animals	5,500	height	3	Shoulder height	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African_bu...
  American alligator	Animals	360	length	3.4	Average adult size	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_a...
  Boston terrier	Animals	9	height	0.43	Height at shoulder	https://www.bostonterriersociety.com/bos...
  California Condor	Animals	11	wingspan	3		https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California...
  Texas horned lizard	Animals	0.08	length	0.14	Female larger	https://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Phr...
  Armadillo	Animals	5	length	0.7	Nine-banded armadillo	length including tail
  Bald eagle	Animals	3.2	wingspan	1.8288		https://www.facebook.com/wildlifecenter/...
  Blue whale	Animals	150,000	length	24	Length	http://eol.org/pages/328574/overview
  Bottlenose dolphin	Animals	175	length	3	Adult size varies significantly	https://www.whalefacts.org/how-much-do-d...
  Brown bear	Animals	270	length	2.1		https://beartrust.org/brown-bear
  Common kestrel	Animals	0.155	wingspan	0.735		https://www.facebook.com/wildlifecenter/...
  Coronavirus	Animals		diameter	0.00000012		https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK55...
  Coyote	Animals	20	length	1.3	Male; Length including tail	https://www.nationalgeographic.com/anima...
  Duck	Animals	1.134	length	0.6		http://www.nationalgeographic.com/animal...
  Flying fox	Animals	1.4	wingspan	1.7		https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giant_gold...
  Giraffe	Animals	1,200	height	4.9	Males larger	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giraffe
  Hummingbird	Animals	0.004	length	0.08	Ruby-Throated	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruby-throa...
  Lion	Animals	200	length	2	Length excluding tail	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lion
  Manatee	Animals	453.592	length	3		http://www.savethemanatee.org/manfcts.ht...
  Opossum	Animals	5.5	length	0.762	Length including tail	https://www.facebook.com/wildlifecenter/...
  Platypus	Animals	1.4	length	0.51	Length including tail	https://www.livescience.com/27572-platyp...
  Polar bear	Animals	450	length	2.8		https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polar_bear
  Pony	Animals	300	height	1.25	Shoulder height	http://www.horseandhound.co.uk/forums/sh...
  Racoon	Animals	8.5	length	0.91	Length including tail	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raccoon
  Shire horse	Animals	1,000	height	1.78	Shoulder height	http://www.shire-horse.org.uk/about-us/t...
  Spinner dolphin	Animals	66	length	2		https://www.whalefacts.org/how-much-do-d...
  Squirrel	Animals	0.5	length	0.48	Length including tail	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_gr...
  Stoat	Animals	0.4	length	0.4	Male; Length including tail	https://www.mammal.org.uk/species-hub/fu...
  Wild turkey	Animals	8	length	1.15		https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wild_turke...
  Wolf	Animals	41	length	1.83	Male; Length including tail	https://wolf.org/wolf-info/basic-wolf-in...
  Woodland box turtle	Animals		length	0.1524		https://www.facebook.com/wildlifecenter/...
  Apple	Daily Items	0.2
  Bag of sugar	Daily Items	1
  Banana	Daily Items	0.175
  Canned soft drink	Daily Items	0.4			330ml, varies slighly by brand
  Pound coin	Daily Items	0.00875			2017 onwards	https://www.thenewpoundcoin.com
  Adult female human	Humans	69	height	1.62	UK	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_body...
  Adult male human	Humans	84	height	1.75	UK	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_body...
  Newborn baby	Humans	3.5	length	0.51		http://www.webmd.boots.com/children/baby...
  Earth	Structures	5.972 × 10 24	diameter	12,762,000	Equatorial Diameter	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth
  Harvard Bridge	Structures		length	620.1		https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smoot
  Statue of Liberty	Structures	204,100	height	93		https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Statue_of_...
  Foot	Units		length	0.3048
  Kilogram	Units	1
  Metre	Units			1
  Pound	Units	0.45359
  Smoot	Units			1.702		https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smoot
  Ton	Units	907.184			Short Ton
  Tonne	Units	1,000			Metric Ton
  Boeing 747	Vehicles	180,000	length	70.66	Empty weight	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_747...
  Falcon 9 rocket	Vehicles	549,054	length	70	Launch (fuelled) weight, Falcon 9 Full Thrust	http://www.spacex.com/falcon9
  London bus	Vehicles	12,650	length	11.23	Kerb weight	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Routem...
  London taxi	Vehicles	1,975	length	4.58	Kerb weight	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TX4
  Saturn V rocket	Vehicles	2,970,000	length	110.6	Launch (fuelled) weight	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saturn_V

• Special note on human weights: Humans are incredibly variable in weight and the average varies worldwide. Whether you weigh more or less than the above, you're probably still beautiful.
• For animals (as there is, for example no Standardised Blue Whale), we've tried to give the measurements of a typical full-grown adult. However, many species of animals vary as widely as humans, or even more!

Why are some animals measured in height and others in length?

• I've tried to use the most common measurements recorded & qoutes by zoologists and researchers. I don't know what the reasoning is behind their choices, though I'd be interested to know.

But … is missing! The weight or size of … is wrong!

• I'm happy to add more measures, particularly if they're often used in this sort of comparison. Send me suggestions via twitter: @weightinwhales. Including a reliable source URL where I can find the weight will increase the chance of getting it added.
• Feature requests are always accepted but response speed is not guaranteed.

These are all masses, not weights!

• That's not a question.
• Yes, perfectly true (and you're probably a QI viewer), but standard usage is to refer to these values as weight.

What else have you made?

My portfolio site is parsingphase.dev

I have another question…

• Drop me a line below.