25 Animals With Big Heads To See In 2022: [ Picture Included ]

Some animals with oversized heads include the African elephant, the angler fish, the beluga whale, the bison, and the blue whale. There are many of these animals out there, and each one is an intriguing species in its own right.

After doing some study, we discovered that some of the fascinating animals on the planet have heads that are disproportionately huge compared to the rest of their bodies.

We will look at some of the ones that garnered the most attention. We will talk about their environments, the foods they eat, and other fascinating facts about them.

There is no correlation between large head size and increased intelligence in animals.

However, during evolution, they evolved large heads because they play significant roles in the natural world, including as head-butting with one another and also against predators, charging, and other similar behaviors.

Animals With Big Heads

To gain a clearer insight into animals with big heads, let us look at the list of 25 animals recognised for their apparent head size, regardless of their size or shape. Continue reading to know more about these animals:

1. African Elephants

The African Elephant is the world’s biggest terrestrial animal. These colossi may reach a weight of two tonnes and have a six-foot broad head. They may be found mostly in central and eastern Africa in woods and grasslands.

African elephants consume a wide variety of plant materials, including leaves, branches, fruits, and more. There are ten to twenty elephants in a herd, and they’re quite gregarious.

Herds are often led by the matriarch, who is the eldest female in the group. During adolescence, male elephants separate from their herd and organize bachelor parties.

Communication between elephants is carried out via the use of their trunks. They have the ability to create a variety of noises, such as trumpeting, roaring, and humming, among others.

2. Angular Fish

The Angler Fish is a kind of fish that lives in the ocean’s depths and has one of the most peculiar heads seen in the animal world. Its “head” is a modified dorsal fin, which employs this trait to get its victim within striking distance of its jaws.

The Angler Fish may reach a maximum length of up to one meter and a maximum weight of up to fifteen pounds. It inhabits the seas of the world, both temperate and tropical.

The Angler Fish is a true expert at lying to its prey. Its dorsal fin is designed to seem like a smaller fish, but if its target gets too near to examine, the Angler Fish will suddenly lunge forward and seize it with its strong jaws. The stomach of an Angler Fish can extend up to five times its standard size to facilitate the digestion of huge meals.

3. Beluga Whale

The head of the tiny Beluga Whale is disproportionately giant compared to its body size, and it has the potential to reach a length of up to fifteen feet and weigh up to three thousand pounds.

The Arctic and North Atlantic oceans are home to populations of these whales. They consume various aquatic life, including fish, crabs, and other creatures.

Beluga Whales are highly sociable creatures that dwell together in communities known as pods. They communicate by making various noises like clicks, whistles, and other sounds.

4. Bison

Large mammalian species that are native to North America include bison. They are herbivores, and the majority of their diet consists of grasses.

Even though they look somewhat cumbersome, they can reach speeds of up to 40 miles per hour. Because of their significant contribution to the prairie’s ecology, bison are referred to as keystone species.

Their grazing helps maintain the grasslands’ condition, and the nutrients they leave behind in their droppings benefit the soil. They also play a role in spreading seeds, which is an essential step in creating new plant life.

5. Blue Whale

The Blue Whale is the most massive mammal that has ever lived. They have the potential to reach a length of 87 feet and a weight of up to 330,000 pounds.

These creatures may be seen swimming in any of the waters across the planet, and Krill makes up most of their diet. However, they will also devour fish of a smaller size.

The Blue Whale is a species of whale that has baleen. This indicates that instead of teeth, they have baleen plates in their mouths.

They filter the food and water using the baleen in their mouths. Additionally, the Blue Whale is a migratory whale species, and they go a great distance to get something to eat.

6. Bowhead Whales

A giant animal in the world with a vast head is the bowhead whale. They live in the Arctic Ocean and may become up to 50,000 kilograms (100,000 pounds) in weight. They consume plankton as well as other species of tiny fish.

Their heads are indicative of the size of their brains, which is among the largest of any mammal. To locate food in the Arctic Ocean, they rely on their brains. In addition, bowheads are one of the creatures that live the longest on the planet and have a potential lifespan of over 200 years.

7. Gorillas

It is generally agreed that gorillas are the biggest primates on the planet. They have a large head in comparison to their even larger bodies. The average mass of a female gorilla is about 250 pounds, but male gorillas may weigh up to 600 pounds.

The rain forest is gorillas’ natural habitat, and they exist mostly on a diet of fruit and vegetables. Gorillas are herbivores, meaning plants are the only food they consume. They don’t do much of anything throughout the day other than eat and sleep.

Gorillas socialize in groups that are referred to as troops. A troop’s typical number of gorillas is fifteen, although their numbers may range from five to thirty-five. The gorilla with the most life experience is most often the group leader.

8. Green Humphead Parrotfish

The green humphead parrotfish is a species of fish native to the waters of the Indo-Pacific area.

It has a large head, and this species of fish may grow to a maximum length of 47 inches and a maximum weight of 33 pounds. The green humphead parrotfish is a carnivore that consumes coral, algae, and a variety of other kinds of tiny invertebrates for food.

9. Grizzly Bear

The grizzly bear is a huge mammal that can consume various foods and may be found throughout North America. Grizzlies have reached weights of up to 1700 pounds and consume a wide range of foods, including fish, plants, insects, and small animals. The skulls of these creatures are enormous, and their demeanor is notorious for being hostile.

Grizzlies are typically timid near people, but they may become violent if they feel threatened.

Grizzly bear males often brush their bodies against rocks and trees to leave territorial markings. In addition to this, they create a grunting sound to scare away other bears. Grizzlies can live for up to 25 years in the wild.

10. Hammerhead Bat

This bat may be found in Central and South America, where it is known as the hammerhead. Because of its large head, this bat has been dubbed the “Hammer Bat.” They are carnivorous and eat insects, lizards, and other prey. A tropical forest or wooded area is where it chooses to call home.

Bats in the hammerhead species range in length from six to eight inches. Its wings are tipped with white and have reddish-brown hair.

Large and trapezoidal, the bat’s head has a tiny eye and pointed ears. Its snout is long and narrow, and its mouth is loaded with sharp teeth.

West and Central Africa are home to the hammer-headed bat, the biggest African bat and is also known as a big-lipped or hammer-headed fruit bat.

To begin with, they’re unique amongst bats in that they have gigantic and box-shaped heads with a massive snout and extremely large eyes.

They also have an enormous and muscular tongue with backward-directed papillae that helps them better extract juice from fruits than other varieties of bats.

11. Hippopotamus

The hippopotamus is a big animal that lives in the waters of Africa. It is an aquatic mammal. They have a varied diet, although most of what they eat is plants and grasses.

They are omnivores. Hippos are recognized for being quite aggressive creatures, and their jaws and teeth are renowned for their strength and sharpness.

They have a head-to-body distance of up to eight feet and can weigh up to two tonnes. Their head-to-body length can reach up to two tonnes.

It is the third biggest land mammal in Africa and may be found in East Africa, the Sahara, and West Africa, among other areas. Hippopotamuses, particularly the common and pygmy varieties known as river hippopotamuses, are enormous mammals with semi-aquatic adaptations.

Huge and strong jaws, eyes, nose, and comparatively tiny ears that shut while submerged are all features of their large heads or skulls. They take numerous breaths by raising their heads above the water’s surface.

12. Horses

Horses are characterized by their large heads and may be found on every continent. They consume grasses, leaves, and several other plant components as part of their diet since they are herbivores. Horses are known for their lengthy lifespans, which average around 25 years.

13. Koalas

Koalas are mammals that spend their lives in the trees of eucalyptus forests. The koala is a mammal native to Australia and is characterized by its tiny size and herbivorous diet. The koala has a large head in proportion to its stocky body, lacks a tail and has white hair on its chest and round ears.

They consume the leaves of eucalyptus trees for food and get their water from nearby streams or ponds. Because they are nocturnal creatures, koalas spend most of the day dozing off in the forks of trees or on branches.

In Australia and other locations such as zoos, the koala bear, often known as the koala bear, is a forest-dwelling, herbivorous, and nighttime marsupial of the genus Phascolarctos, family Phascolarctidae.

Their huge heads and tiny brains, compared to other animals in terms of their body weight, may be identified as a distinct species.

It has smaller eyes, a big spoon-shaped black snout, and enormous fluffy ears that are important for communication and sociability with other Koalas since they are employed for this purpose.

14. Lion

The lion is the most dominant animal in the wild. This enormous feline’s head is covered with fur despite its immense size. Carnivorous by nature, lions feast on the flesh of herbivorous animals such as wildebeests, zebras, and antelopes. They call the continents of Africa and Asia home.

Carnivorous lions belong to the family Felidae and are found in Saharan Africa and other regions. The lion is a diurnal animal that eats prey during the day and at night.

Because the mane is the most distinctive and charming characteristic of lions and is also significant in sex identification because the female lions lack it, male lions have bigger heads than females. Females prefer an adult lion with a mane because it signifies physical power, health, and authority.

15. Musk Ox

The Musk Ox is a large mammal with a large head that lives in the frigid temperatures of North America and Europe. These creatures have two horns on their heads, which they may use for protection or chip away at the ice to access their food. They are herbivores that consume mostly grasses, mosses, and lichens as their primary food sources.

The Arctic muskox, often known as the musk ox or muskox, is a herbivorous mammal of the Ovibos and family Bovidae. A musk ox’s distinctive features include a large head and a large, muscular torso.

It has horns on its enormous head, much like the rest of the bovine family, and they are generally long, curved, and sharply pointed. In these muskoxen, both men and females have horns, but the males use them to fight each other, which is why they have horns.

16. Octopus

Octopuses are cephalopods that are characterized by their large heads. The octopus consumes food items such as crabs, shrimp, clams, mussels, and other similar-sized animals for food.

It is possible to find it in saltwater and freshwater, which live in the oceans surrounding the Atlantic, Pacific, and Mediterranean seas. Octopuses have a high level of intelligence and may be taught to do various tricks.

An Octopoda is an order of soft-bodied molluscs that may be found in all oceans and the United States’ shores and several more locations. Cephalopods are known for their head and foot, which is why they’ve been dubbed “head-foot” in Greek.

All the components of its head are contained in its head, and at the top of its head are its eyes, which have monocular vision. In addition to a wide and hollow mantle attached to the back of the skull, the visceral hump includes several essential organs.

17. Orangutan

The orangutan is an excellent illustration of an animal with a large head. There are three distinct subspecies of orangutans, all indigenous to Indonesia and Sumatra and living in the country’s rainforests and swamp forests.

These creatures are the biggest arboreal mammals found anywhere on the planet, meaning they spend most of their time living in trees. Orangutans have hair that is a shade between red and brown, and their heads are disproportionately huge in contrast to the rest of their bodies.

Orangutans are herbivores, and the majority of their diet consists of fruits and vegetables. In addition to it, they will consume things like leaves, insects, and even other tiny animals. Poaching and the destruction of their natural homes have led to their status as an endangered species on the verge of extinction.

18. Owls

The owl is a kind of bird that is active at night and may be found throughout a great deal of the earth. They are distinguished by the size of their heads as well as the size of their eyes.

Owls like to make their homes in trees or other lofty settings. Mice, rats, and other types of rodents are among the prey items that owls consume. In addition to that, they consume birds, insects, and reptiles.

In the Strigiformes order, the owl is a nocturnal predator with a carnivorous diet that may be found all over the globe. Because of their enormous heads and wide eyes that gaze at you uncomfortably, one may be frightened, particularly if they meet them at night.

To compensate for the fact that humans cannot swivel their eyeballs as humans can, they have evolved a huge, broad head with ear tufts and eyes fixed in eye sockets. As a result, they can spin the whole head roughly 270 degrees without damaging blood vessels or tendons.

19. Panda

The animal known as the panda is native to China and has a very large head. They have a disproportionately huge skull to the rest of their body and are black and white in hue.

Pandas are classified as herbivores, meaning most of their diet consists of plants. They consume around 30 pounds of bamboo daily and reside in bamboo groves as their natural habitat.

20. Rhinoceros

The rhinoceros is a large and cumbersome mammal that may be found in both Africa and Asia. These creatures have two horns on their head, each of which may reach a length of up to one meter in length.

Rhinos are classified as herbivores and get their nutrition mostly from vegetation. They like to make their homes in regions with a lot of thick foliage to conceal themselves from potential enemies.

21. Shrews

Microscopic, insectivorous animals may be found in almost every region of the earth. They have tiny eyes, yet their heads are disproportionately large compared to the rest of their bodies. Shrews’ diets consist mostly of insects, although they can digest the flesh of other tiny animals and plants.

22. Sperm Whales

One of the creatures with a rather large head is the sperm whale. They are present in every ocean on the planet and have been known to weigh up to 200,000 kg. They consume squid and other fish, and they can dive up to a depth of 3,000 feet.

The sperm whale is the biggest toothed whale and the largest toothed predator. It is also the third deepest diving animal and belongs to the genus Physeter. Sperm whales may be found in all of the world’s seas that are very deep, including the Arctic and the Antarctic.

The enormous head of an adult male sperm whale may be up to one-third the length of its whole body. At the same time, the length of its body averages 52 feet (16 m) and may grow to a maximum of 68 feet (20 m) in certain cases (20 m).

23. Tarsier

The tarsier is a little primate that only comes out at night and lives in the jungles of Southeast Asia. These creatures have enormous heads, and their eyes are so massive that they consume practically the whole of the space in their skull.

Tarsiers are able to grip onto trees because of the very long fingers and toes that they possess. They consume lizards and tiny insects as food.

Tiny primate Tarsier, which also includes the Western tarsier as well as the Philippine Tarsier, may be found throughout Southeast Asia and beyond.

As an adaptation to a nocturnal life, it possesses a huge, spherical head that can be rotated 180 degrees, enormous membranous ears that never stop moving, large bulging eyes that are out of proportion to the rest of its body, and a short body.

24. Gaboon Viper

The head of the gaboon viper is the biggest of any snake in the world, reaching up to 15 centimeters (6 inches) in width! These massive reptiles may reach lengths ranging from 48 to 84 inches and weigh more than 45 pounds at maturity.

Forests are home to Gaboon vipers, the biggest species of viper native to Africa, which may be found throughout the continent.

These snakes have huge fangs that may reach up to 2 inches and can produce more poison with each bite than any other species of venomous snake in the world. Their venom is cytotoxic, and their bites are known to be among the most excruciatingly painful of any species of snake.

When a gaboon viper is quietly waiting amid the leaves on the forest floor, the colors and patterns on its body provide the snake with superb camouflage, allowing it to remain undetected.

The snake’s body is patterned with light and dark brown scales, with purple and pink scales around the edges. These scales create diamond marks and stripes along the backs of the snakes.

The gaboon viper possesses distinctive horns on the end of its snout that look like a leaf that has fallen to the ground, which helps it blend in more seamlessly with the leaf litter.

25. King Cobra

The king cobra is a massive snake with a head that is disproportionately huge and broad. This venomous snake may be found in India, southern China, and Southeast Asia.

There is a broad range of environments in which king cobras may be found, including grasslands, bamboo thickets, rivers, mangrove swamps, and rainforests, to name just a few.

The average length of one of these snakes is between 10 and 13 feet, but they may reach a maximum length of 18 feet! The king cobra is not only the longest poisonous snake in the world, but it can lift a significant portion of its body off the ground, giving the appearance that it is standing. These snakes are exceedingly hazardous since their venom is cytotoxic and neurotoxic, and it only takes 30 minutes to kill a human being.

Conclusion

These are the 25 animals with big heads on this list and are among the most widespread throughout the planet. Because of their unique physical traits, they have a number of advantages over other organisms on earth. If you’ve read this far, you should already know all there is to know about these animals.