Shark size comparison: from great white to whale shark

Shark size comparison chart: typical adult lengths

The whale shark is the biggest living shark, about 25 ft 5 in / 7.8 m long as a typical adult, and the basking shark is about as long (25 ft 5 in / 7.8 m). At the small end of the list a bull shark measures about 7 ft / 213.4 cm. Shark sizes are total lengths from the tip of the snout to the tip of the tail fin, and Height Studio draws every shark by that length.

These are typical adults, not records. For the whale shark, the basking shark and the great white, the sources describe much bigger individuals; the Greenland shark is shown at the middle of its average range because reports of giants are disputed, and the rarely seen megamouth at the size at which males mature. The one extinct shark, megalodon, appears at 52 ft / 16 m, the length of a full-body reconstruction published in Scientific Reports in 2020. Longest first:

Great white shark size comparison to a bus and a human

A typical adult great white shark is about 13 ft 11 in / 4.3 m long: about 2.9 of them nose to tail match one Mercedes-Benz Citaro city bus (40 ft / 12.1 m), and one is about 2.5 times as long as an average young man is tall (5 ft 7 in / 170.8 cm). The number is the middle of the sizes at which males and females become adult; females grow bigger than males, and the largest great whites are clearly longer.

Other well-known sharks are smaller: a tiger shark measures about 12 ft 4 in / 3.8 m, a great hammerhead about 14 ft 11 in / 4.6 m and a bull shark about 7 ft / 213.4 cm. The shortfin mako reaches about 8 ft / 245 cm, the goblin shark about 10 ft 8 in / 3.2 m. Tap any of them in the chart and the card below it shows how much longer or shorter the others are.

Whale shark size comparison: the biggest fish next to a diver

A typical adult whale shark is about 25 ft 5 in / 7.8 m long – about 4.5 times as long as a diver is tall (5 ft 7 in / 170.8 cm) and about 1.8 times as long as a great white. The basking shark reaches 25 ft 5 in / 7.8 m as a typical adult and the Greenland shark about 11 ft / 3.4 m. Megalodon, long extinct, was about 52 ft / 16 m long in the 2020 reconstruction – about 3.8 times a great white and 2.1 times a whale shark. More in the guide “Megalodon shark size comparison: next to a great white, a person and a blue whale”.

This page opens in the length view: every shark starts at the same line, nose to tail, with a diver lying beside them for scale. Switch to “Height” to see the sharks among people, animals and buildings, or add a blue whale from the library to put the biggest fish next to the biggest animal.

How to use Height Studio

1. Add yourself and others

   Open “Add person”, type a name and a height – 5′9″, 69 in, 175 or 1.75 m all work – and pick a figure, a build and a color. Children, teens and older people have their own silhouettes. “Add to comparison” puts the person into the chart.

2. Pick from the library

   In “Library”, type what you are looking for – a country, an animal, a building – or open a category. Every row shows the size and what was measured, and “Order” lists the figures A–Z or “Tallest first”.

3. Measure and compare

   Tap a figure to draw its measuring line across the chart. A card shows how much taller or shorter everyone else is and, for big things, how many of you it would take to reach the top.

4. Compare by length

   “Length” lines everything up by its length instead: ships, planes, trains, cars, whales and dinosaurs side by side from a start line, with people and rockets lying down. “Height” switches back.

5. Zoom, move and go full screen

   Pinch or use + and − to zoom, drag to move along the line-up, and “Fit all” brings everything back into view. “Full screen” gives the chart the whole screen; on a phone, turn it sideways for the widest view.

6. Share or save

   “Share link” copies a link with the whole comparison and “Save PNG” downloads it as a picture. In “Line-up” you can rename, recolor, reorder or remove every figure.

Popular comparisons

Tap one to load it into the chart above, then add yourself next to it.

• Whale shark vs. Great white shark – 25 ft 5 in / 7.8 m against 13 ft 11 in / 4.3 m: about 1.8 times as long, a difference of 11 ft 6 in / 3.5 m.
• City bus (Mercedes-Benz Citaro) vs. Great white shark – 40 ft / 12.1 m against 13 ft 11 in / 4.3 m: about 2.9 times as long, a difference of 25 ft 10 in / 7.9 m.
• Megalodon vs. Great white shark – 52 ft / 16 m against 13 ft 11 in / 4.3 m: about 3.8 times as long, a difference of 39 ft / 11.8 m.
• Blue whale vs. Whale shark – 85 ft / 26 m against 25 ft 5 in / 7.8 m: about 3.4 times as long, a difference of 60 ft / 18.3 m.
• Tiger shark vs. Bull shark – 12 ft 4 in / 3.8 m against 7 ft / 213.4 cm: about 1.8 times as long, a difference of 5 ft 4 in / 161.6 cm.
• Great hammerhead shark vs. Great white shark – 14 ft 11 in / 4.6 m against 13 ft 11 in / 4.3 m: a difference of 11.8 in / 30 cm.
• Great white shark vs. Greenland shark – 13 ft 11 in / 4.3 m against 11 ft / 3.4 m: about 1.3 times as long, a difference of 2 ft 11 in / 89.5 cm.
• Basking shark vs. Tiger shark – 25 ft 5 in / 7.8 m against 12 ft 4 in / 3.8 m: about 2.1 times as long, a difference of 13 ft 1 in / 4 m.

Tips for better comparisons

• Measure in the morning, barefoot. You are tallest right after waking up and lose a little height over the day. The guide How to measure your height at home shows an exact method with a wall and a book.
• Start from an idea. “Ideas to try” below the chart loads ready line-ups – family, dinosaurs, the tallest buildings, the solar system – that you can change freely.
• Stand next to your country. Search for your country in “Library” and add its average man or woman, or open the average height by country page with the whole ranking.
• No account needed – but mind what a link shows. A shared link keeps the whole comparison in its address, so a bookmark saves it. Our server never sees that part, but anyone you send it to can read the names. Use initials for real people, or send the PNG.

How do I convert centimeters to feet and inches?

Divide the centimeters by 2.54 to get inches, then take out whole groups of 12 as feet: 175 cm ÷ 2.54 = 68.9 in, which is 5 ft 8.9 in – about 5′9″. The other way round, multiply the inches by 2.54: 5′9″ is 69 in, or 175.3 cm. Or leave it to the tool: type either one and switch with the “ft / in” and “cm / m” buttons. The chart rounds to the nearest inch; the line-up keeps the exact value.

What is measured: without shoes, at the shoulder, nose to tail

• People stand straight, without shoes. Children show the WHO median for their age; country averages are the mean height of 19-year-olds in 2019, estimated by the NCD Risk Factor Collaboration from measured data.
• Four-legged animals are measured at the shoulder, as zoos and breed standards do. The figure stands with its shoulder on that height, so a horse’s head rises above the line.
• Long animals – snakes, whales, sharks and most dinosaurs – are measured nose to tail, so the drawing is scaled by its length. Dinosaur sizes are museum estimates from fossils.
• Buildings use their official height to the architectural top, spires included; mountains their height above sea level. Planets sit on the ground like balls and are drawn by their diameter, and altitudes such as the Kármán line run across the chart.

Where the numbers come from

The figures in the library rest on 406 source pages – nothing is guessed. The one exception is marked as such: mythical creatures are legends, so their sizes come from the stories that tell of them or are illustration sizes, and each one carries a legend tag. Typical values are averages or the middle of the range a source gives, so real individuals vary. A few of the main sources by category:

• People & ages: World Health Organization, NCD Risk Factor Collaboration (NCD-RisC)
• Famous people: Guinness World Records, NBA.com, Team USA
• Sports: FIBA, Volleyball World, International Journal of Morphology
• Animals: San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance, Animal Diversity Web, American Kennel Club
• Prehistoric: Natural History Museum, London, Field Museum, Chicago, Guinness World Records
• Mythical creatures: Project Gutenberg, Perseus Digital Library, Tufts University, Internet Archive
• Tiny world: Animal Diversity Web, The Wildlife Trusts, Royal Horticultural Society
• Objects: The IFAB, FIBA, FIVB
• Vehicles: Lufthansa Group, NASA, SpaceX
• Buildings: CTBUH Skyscraper Center, U.S. National Park Service, Golden Gate Bridge, Highway and Transportation District
• Nature: Encyclopaedia Britannica, Woodland Trust, Guinness World Records
• Space: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, NASA Science, NASA
• Altitudes: FAI, NASA, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
• Countries: NCD Risk Factor Collaboration (NCD-RisC)

Every source with its link is on the sources page.

More height comparisons

• Height comparison chart
• Average height by country
• Dinosaur size comparison
• Tallest buildings in the world
• Tallest man in the world
• Animal size comparison
• Bear size comparison
• Cat size comparison
• Spider size comparison
• Length comparison
• Ship size comparison
• Planet size comparison