Where Have All the Giants Gone? How Animals Deal with the Problem of Size

Taylor J M Dick; Christofer J Clemente

doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.2000473

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Where Have All the Giants Gone? How Animals Deal with the Problem of Size

Journal article

Open access

Peer reviewed

Where Have All the Giants Gone? How Animals Deal with the Problem of Size

Taylor J M Dick and Christofer J Clemente

PLoS Biology, Vol.15(1), pp.1-10

2017

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.2000473

PMCID: PMC5226675

PMID: 28076354

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Abstract

The survival of both the hunter and the hunted often comes down to speed. Yet how fast an animal can run is intricately linked to its size, such that the fastest animals are not the biggest nor the smallest. The ability to maintain high speeds is dependent on the body's capacity to withstand the high stresses involved with locomotion. Yet even when standing still, scaling principles would suggest that the mechanical stress an animal feels will increase in greater demand than its body can support. So if big animals want to be fast, they must find solutions to overcome these high stresses. This article explores the ways in which extant animals mitigate size-related increases in musculoskeletal stress in an effort to help understand where all the giants have gone.

Details

Title: Where Have All the Giants Gone? How Animals Deal with the Problem of Size
Authors: Taylor J M Dick (Author) - Simon Fraser University, Canada
Christofer J Clemente (Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast - Faculty of Science, Health, Education and Engineering
Publication details: PLoS Biology, Vol.15(1), pp.1-10
Publisher: Public Library of Science
Date published: 2017
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pbio.2000473
ISSN: 1544-9173
PMID: 28076354; PMC5226675
Copyright note: Copyright © 2017 Dick, Clemente. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Organisation Unit: School of Science and Engineering - Legacy; School of Science, Technology and Engineering
Language: English
Record Identifier: 99451019302621
Output Type: Journal article

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Collaboration types: Domestic collaboration; International collaboration
Web Of Science research areas: Biochemistry & Molecular Biology; Biology

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