A goliath bird-eating tarantula jonrawlinson via Flickr
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Super size me! The world's biggest spider and 8 other record-breakers

Bigger is better… and here are some of the best.
3.49pm, 14 Aug 2011
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LARGE THINGS HOLD a powerful fascination for humanity. We’re always trying to go one bigger and better – building taller buildings, more powerful machines, larger, er, portraits of ourselves.

Perhaps that makes us an inherently childish species – but if so, then Nature sometimes seems to be playing the same game. Here’s our selection of the world’s best biggest things, both natural and man-made. It’s difficult to be definitive, but to the best of our knowledge these are the title-holders. So hold your jaw in place, and prepare to feel small.

Super size me! The world's biggest spider and 8 other record-breakers
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  • The world's biggest... tree

    The General Sherman giant sequoia in California, the largest tree by volume on Earth, 275ft high. (mikebaird on Flickr)

  • The world's biggest... baby

    This baby boy, left, weighed 19.2 pounds when born in Kisaran, Indonesia in 2009. He was 24.4 inches long - and born by Caesarean. (AP Photo/Andi Anshari)

  • The world's biggest... clock

    The four-faced clock on Mecca's Abraj Al-Bait Towers in Saudi Arabia measures 43m x 43m on each face. (AP Photo/Essa Mohammad)

  • The world's biggest... hand-knitted carpet

    There are 2,268,000 hand-tied knots in this $8.2 million carpet at the Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi. It has room for 40,000 worshippers. (AP Photo/Kamran Jebreili)

  • The world's biggest... organism

    The Armillaria solidipes fungus looks modest, but one single organism spreads over 3.4 square miles in an Oregon forest, sprouting thousands of mushrooms every autumn.

  • The world's biggest... vehicle

    The 'Bagger 288' excavator is 96m high and 240m long, weighing 13,000 tonnes. It is used in 'brown coal' mining in Germany and travels at a top speed of 10m per minute. (AP Photo/Frank Augstein)

  • The world's biggest... spider

    The Goliath Bird-Eating Tarantula has a leg span of up to a foot. (jonrawlinson on Flickr)

  • The world's biggest... portrait

    A portrait of former Turkish leader Kemal Ataturk carved into the mountains at Erzincan. It measures 7,500 square metres. (Google Earth)

  • The world's biggest... portion of chips

    The largest ever portion of chips - 448kg - was served in Southend-on-Sea, England, in June. Five staff took more than four hours just to cut the potatoes. (Chris Radburn/PA Wire)
  • The General Sherman giant sequoia in California, the largest tree by volume on Earth, 275ft high. (mikebaird on Flickr)
  • This baby boy, left, weighed 19.2 pounds when born in Kisaran, Indonesia in 2009. He was 24.4 inches long - and born by Caesarean. (AP Photo/Andi Anshari)
  • The four-faced clock on Mecca's Abraj Al-Bait Towers in Saudi Arabia measures 43m x 43m on each face. (AP Photo/Essa Mohammad)
  • There are 2,268,000 hand-tied knots in this $8.2 million carpet at the Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi. It has room for 40,000 worshippers. (AP Photo/Kamran Jebreili)
  • The Armillaria solidipes fungus looks modest, but one single organism spreads over 3.4 square miles in an Oregon forest, sprouting thousands of mushrooms every autumn.
  • The 'Bagger 288' excavator is 96m high and 240m long, weighing 13,000 tonnes. It is used in 'brown coal' mining in Germany and travels at a top speed of 10m per minute. (AP Photo/Frank Augstein)
  • The Goliath Bird-Eating Tarantula has a leg span of up to a foot. (jonrawlinson on Flickr)
  • A portrait of former Turkish leader Kemal Ataturk carved into the mountains at Erzincan. It measures 7,500 square metres. (Google Earth)
  • The largest ever portion of chips - 448kg - was served in Southend-on-Sea, England, in June. Five staff took more than four hours just to cut the potatoes. (Chris Radburn/PA Wire)

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