Largest organisms one of the largest and oldest clonal colonies on Earth. Among animals, the largest species are all marine mammals, specifically whales. The blue whale is believed to be the largest animal to have ever lived. The largest land animal classification is also dominated by mammals, with the African bush elephant being the most massive of these. The largest single-stem tree by wood volume and mass is the giant sequoia ("Sequoiadendron giganteum"), native to Sierra Nevada and California; it typically grows to a height of and in diameter. Multiple-stem trees such as banyan can be enormous. Thimmamma Marrimanu in India spreads
Downward to the Earth Downward to the Earth Downward to the Earth is a 1970 science fiction novel by American writer Robert Silverberg. It is a tale of the quest for transcendence (a frequent Silverberg theme) set on another planet, and includes references to "Heart of Darkness", Joseph Conrad's classic tale of colonialism, including the name of Kurtz. Its title references Ecclesiastes 3:21 in the Bible (""Who knows if the spirit of people rises upward and the spirit of animals goes downward to the earth?""). "Downward to the Earth" was originally published as a four-part serial publication, starting in the November 1969 edition of