When the world's tallest man meets the world's shortest woman, the moment demands a photo op.
That's what happened on Monday in California when Sultan Kosen of Turkey, measuring at a neck-craning 8 foot and 2 inches, reunited with the diminutive Jyoti Amge of India, who's recorded at just 2 feet and 0.7 inches — and the meeting was documented by Turkey’s state-run news outlet Anadolu, as reported by The Independent.
In a testament to the incredible variation of human body types, in one shot the 30-year-old Amge even poses balancing on the 41-year-old Kosen's knee.
In another photo, Kosen remains seated in a chair while Amge, on the floor, doesn't even reach the height of his knees. Kosen holds up one of his colossal shoes as another point of comparison.
The two, separated in height by more than six feet, previously met for a photoshoot in Egypt six years ago. In that photo, they posed in front of the Giza Pyramids.
GIZA, EGYPT - JANUARY 26: Sultan Kosen (L), Guinness World Record holder for tallest living male at 251 centimetres, and Jyoti Amge (R), world's smallest living woman according to Guinness World Records, pose for a photo at the Giza pyramid complex on January 26, 2018 in Giza, Egypt. (Photo by Stringer/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)
Both Kosen and Amge's unique statures are due to medical quirks.
Kosen, who has his record immortalized in the Guinness World Records, can credit his extraordinary height to pituitary gigantism, a rare condition in which children's bodies are flooded with excessive growth hormone from their pituitary gland.
A tumor is usually the cause behind pituitary gigantism, which was the case for Kosen, who started growing by leaps and bounds at the age of 10. Treatment for gigantism includes surgery and radiation therapy for the tumor plus medication.
In the case of Amge, an actress who also holds a Guinness record, she has achondroplasia, a type of dwarfism generally mostly caused by a gene mutation or inherited from a parent with achondroplasia.
In achondroplasia, a protein called fibroblast growth factor receptor doesn't function normally and decreases bone growth, resulting in a lower stature. Treatment for this condition usually revolves around managing drawbacks with the condition such as monitoring the health of children's spine.
In any case, shout out to this pair for striking up a friendship that's resulted visibility for both conditions, as well as some of the most incredible photos we've ever seen.