Researchers have concluded that animals, especially those on land, are often limited in size by the effects of the law of proportional growth and the abundance of resources. However, no one knows how large animals in the natural world can grow.
Check out the largest animals that have ever existed.
How big can animals get?
Many speculate that the largest animal to ever walk the Earth was likely the Argentinosaurus, a titanosaur that weighed 70 tons. Today, the world's heaviest land animal is the African elephant, also known as Loxodonta, which weighs less than 6 tons.
However, when placed next to the blue whale, both dinosaurs and African elephants are not strong enough to "compete". Because the blue whale weighs an average of 150 tons, it may be the heaviest animal ever to live on the planet. In response to the question "How big can animals get?" , Mr. Geerat Vermeij - professor of geobiology and paleontology at the University of California shared that he was not sure about the answer because size depends on many factors.
Blue whales weigh an average of about 150 tons.
Felisa Smith, a paleoecology professor at the University of New Mexico, used the square-cube law to explain how large animals can get. As an animal increases in size, its volume grows faster than its surface area. So the larger the animal, the larger its limbs need to support its weight.
If you increase the size of an elephant by a few times, the square-cube law dictates that it will collapse because its limbs do not grow in proportion to its mass. The only way for a super-giant elephant to stand is if it has proportionally large legs. However, if the elephant weighs 120 tons, its legs will become impractically bulky.
Animals in rich environments can reach their maximum size.
One of the factors that affects the growth of animal size is the abundance of resources. Animals living in a rich environment with high quality food will be very favorable conditions for them to reach their maximum body size.
Whales, elephants, and many other large animals tend to live in nutrient-rich environments, says Jordan Okie, a biologist at the University of Arizona. This need for nutrients also explains why lizards like titanosaurs are so much larger than the largest land mammals. Mammals are warm-blooded and have faster metabolisms, so they need to consume 10 times more food than lizards to grow to their full size.
Elephants absorb nutrients very well.
Normally, blue whales are warm-blooded mammals and would be classified as small animals. However, people are surprised by the fact that blue whales usually weigh about 150 tons - an exception to the above rules.
The blue whale’s remarkable success is due to its unique habitat. Large marine animals can use buoyancy to grow larger without putting stress on their muscles and skeletons. Aquatic animals are less constrained by biomechanical constraints, explains Jordan Okie, a biologist at the University of Arizona.
The ocean also provides an abundant, nutrient-rich resource for them to thrive. Jordan Okie adds that the evolutionary advantage of baleen has allowed whales to consume plankton efficiently enough to support their enormous size.
Tuyet Anh (Source: Synthesis)
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