We've had many King Kong remakes and spinoffs, but you never hear much about Queen Kong.

It's true that gorilla males are much bigger than females. But dramatically large females are the norm in some species of frogs, turtles, lizards, snakes, and spiders. (See "6 Fierce Animal Moms That Go to Extremes For Their Young.")

And there's a reason for their heft—aside from the obvious fact that big is beautiful.

"Bigger females can produce a larger number of offspring," says Greg Pauly, curator of herpetology at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles.

For instance, female map turtles, native to the central and eastern U.S., can be twice as long and ten times the mass of males—all the better for