The Irish elk, now extinct, had antlers with a span of 12 feet.
"That's a lower fence with a span of water on the other side," intoned the commentator.
With a span of nearly 18 metres, the giant TGO is the more important of the two probes.
Not a short story, where the action is condensed, but something with a span that takes in decades, eras even.
Its signature arch, 133m high, with a span of 315m, is already as instantly recognisable as the old Twin Towers.
With a span of 3.3km (2.1 miles), it will be by far the world's longest suspension bridge.
The other is the Basilica of Constantine (307 312 ce), also with a span of 26 metres.
The 31,000 tonne protective steel arch is an engineering project of staggering dimensions – 100m high, 165m long, with a span of 260m.
A late specimen of the 3rd century bce is the Porta Marzia, an arched city gateway with a span of about 6 metres (20 feet), in Perugia.
The Verrazano-Narrows Bridge in New York City (with a span of 4,260 feet [1,298 m]) is made of 60 prefabricated units weighing 400 tons each.
In 1927 an octagonal ribbed shell dome with a span of 66 metres (220 feet) was built to house a market hall in Leipzig.
