The newly discovered Heracles inexpectatus stood nearly a metre tall. And its fossil bones sat undiscovered on a museum shelf for more than a decade before its hefty status was finally appreciated.
An internet-breaking 6'4" steer isn’t the only animal to reach gigantic proportions.
An artist’s reconstruction of Kumimanu biceae, a giant ancient penguin, from fossils found in New Zealand.
Reconstruction by G Mayr/Senckenberg Research Institute
Fossilised bones discovered in New Zealand reveal an extinct penguin which may have been the largest to ever live, around the same height as an average man.
Robert Wadlow is known as the tallest man who ever lived.
Paille/Flickr
Gigantism and acromegaly are rare conditions where a benign tumour causes excessive production of growth hormone (GH), which stimulates the growth of the skeleton and all tissues in the body.