These 7 animals have made some of the greatest journeys on Earth

Earth is enormous.

With 197 million square miles of surface area, our planet is a massive obstacle course of geographic barriers that force most species to stay put.

Yet these barriers have meant nothing to some animals. They've traversed Earth with aplomb — dangerous oceans, stormy weather, and moving continents be damned.

Here are seven of the most fearless globe-trotting creatures that have flung themselves across our world, some through unstoppable determination, others by pure chance.

First up: The globeskimmer dragonfly. Although this insect is the size of your pinkie, it can stay airborne for more than 4,400 miles.

Source: Tech Insider

But the dragonflies occasionally stop on islands to reproduce. Their progeny then join vast, multigenerational, island-hopping swarms that cross the Pacific.

Source: Tech Insider

Then there's the blue whale. Other than the Arctic, these 200-ton mammals can swim nearly anywhere in world's oceans, which cover 71% of the planet's surface.

Source: WWF, National Geographic