Animal including salt water, hydrothermal vents, fresh water, hot springs, swamps, forests, pastures, deserts, air, and the interiors of animals, plants, fungi and rocks. Animals are however not particularly heat tolerant; very few of them can survive at constant temperatures above . Only very few species of animals (mostly nematodes) inhabit the most extreme cold deserts of continental Antarctica. The blue whale ("Balaenoptera musculus") is the largest animal that has ever lived, weighing up to 190 metric tonnes and measuring up to long. The largest extant terrestrial animal is the African bush elephant ("Loxodonta africana"), weighing up to 12.25 tonnes and
Animal welfare in the United States Animal welfare is concerned with the humane treatment of animals but does not oppose all uses of animals, while animal rights is concerned with ending all human use of animals. The largest American animal nonprofit, The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS), is an animal welfare organization. PETA, Farm Animal Rights Movement (FARM), and Direct Action Everywhere (DxE) are animal rights organizations based in the U.S. The activities of animal welfare and rights organizations include lobbying for animal protection legislation and better corporate animal welfare policies (e.g. cage-free egg campaigns), promoting reductions in animal product consumption, and conducting undercover