In 2018, two remarkable record holders, Sultan Kösen (Turkey) and Jyoti Amge (India), visited Egypt together. 🤩
Sultan Kösen is the world’s tallest man living, standing at a height of 2.51 m (8 ft 3 in).
Jyoti Amge is the world’s shortest female living, measuring just 62.8 cm (2 ft 0.7 in).
The iconic pair posed for photos next to the Great Sphinx of Giza and the Giza pyramids near Egypt’s capital city, Cairo. 📷
The Sphinx is one of the oldest known examples of ancient Egyptian architecture.
No one knows exactly when it was built, but most experts agree it was some time between 2558 and 2532 BCE, during the reign of the pharaoh Khafre. 👑
The Sphinx statue has the body of a lion and the head of a human, who is believed to be Khafre.
From paw to tail it’s 73 m (240 ft) long and 20 m (66 ft) tall. The Sphinx is eight times taller than Sultan Kösen and 32 times taller than Jyoti Amge! 🤯
Just like Sultan and Jyoti, the Sphinx also holds a Guinness World Records title. It is the largest monolithic sculpture in the world, which means it’s the largest sculpture to be made from a single piece of stone – limestone to be precise.
Sultan officially became the world’s tallest man living in 2009. He was the first man over 8 ft tall to be measured by Guinness World Records in over 20 years! 😵
In the same year, when Jyoti was 15 years old, she was awarded the record title of shortest teenager living (female), after she was measured to be 61.95 cm (2 ft 0.3 in) tall.
When she became an adult on her 18th birthday, Jyoti was measured again. At 62.8 cm (2 ft 0.7 in), she had grown less than one centimetre in three years, making her the shortest female living in the world.
Jyoti’s small size is caused by a form of dwarfism called achondroplasia, which means she will never grow beyond a certain height.
On the other hand, Sultan's super size is caused by a condition called pituitary gigantism. This causes Sultan’s bones and body parts to grow at a much faster rate than most people. 🦴️
Now aged 28, Jyoti still holds her record title and she’s still as popular as ever. 😃
Sultan, age 39, is also world-famous and attracts a crowd wherever he goes! 😍
Their Guinness World Records titles don’t end there though…
Sultan also holds the record for largest hands on a living person, each one measuring 28.5 cm (11.22 in) from the wrist to the tip of the middle finger. ✋
And Jyoti achieved her dream of becoming the shortest actress in the world, after playing the role of Ma Petite in American Horror Story.
"When people see me and recognise me, they all want to take a photograph with me. Everybody stops me wherever I’m walking. That makes me feel really good." - Jyoti Amge
How many questions can you answer correctly in this quiz about the world's shortest people?
