Toughest animal on earth revealed after brutal AI fight pits 256 species against each other

The simulation was 'meticulously engineered' to find the toughest animal

Animal Match-up asked the AI technology to simulate a knockout tournament involving 256 animals to find out which one was the toughest of the lot.

The winner? The African elephant which beat the Siberian tiger in the final.

At four metres tall and weighing 10 tonnes, the African elephant is the largest land animal, so it's perhaps unsurprising that it managed to come out on top.

In third place was the saltwater crocodile, whilst the hippo came fifth and the leopard rounded out the top five.

The rest of the top 10 was made up of the tiger shark, polar bear, colossal squid, Nile crocodile and the great white shark, the Sun reports.

Speaking about the bizarre simulation to Science Illustrated, wildlife expert Dr Dheer said: “The elephant’s huge size, combined with its strength and intelligence, has long placed it at the top of the animal kingdom.”

Animal Match-up said they "meticulously engineered" the simulation, saying they used "the chatGPT API to analyse each animal's distinctive attributes - size, weight, strength, speed, offensive, and defensive capabilities."

They continued: “We created an arena where these magnificent creatures clashed in the closest approximation to real-world scenarios.”

Explaining why the African elephant managed to claim the crown, they said: “Displaying unparalleled offensive and defensive capabilities, it conquered with eight wins and no losses, highlighting its dominance against skilled predators.”