What is the second largest animal in the world?

The second largest animal in the world is the fin whale. Only the blue whale is generally recognized as larger, making the fin whale the standard answer in general-knowledge quizzes.

The fin whale, Balaenoptera physalus, is a baleen whale found in oceans around the world. Its streamlined body can reach about 27 metres in exceptional cases, and it is sometimes called the finback or common rorqual. Like other baleen whales, it filters small prey such as krill and fish from seawater rather than using teeth.

Size comparisons can become complicated because some bowhead and right whales may rival or exceed individual fin whales in weight, depending on how estimates are calculated. The usual ranking is based on overall maximum size and commonly cited zoological comparisons, where the blue whale is first and the fin whale is second. Fin whales are also among the fastest large whales, capable of short bursts near 37 kilometres per hour.