• Question: why were animals bigger when we were not around? and why are they smaller now? is it because we killed them and ate all of there food?

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      Asked by Hoadleyyj to Alex, Anaïs, Peter, Sarwat, Shreesha on 17 Mar 2015.
      • Photo: Peter Maskell

        Peter Maskell answered on 17 Mar 2015:

        There is a tendency in evolution for animal lineages to get progressively larger over geological timescales. This is known as Cope’s Rule, after the 19th century American paleontologist Edward Cope. Horses, elephants, bears and even humans all evolved from smaller versions of essentially the same body shape. The reason this happens is that nearly all animals are competing with other members of their own species for resources. Being slightly larger than your peers allows you to fight them off, to win a mate and also makes you less vulnerable to predation.

        The dinosaurs weren’t killed off by us. so no its not because we ate them all.

      • Photo: Shreesha Bhat

        Shreesha Bhat answered on 17 Mar 2015:

        Its just how nature played its part. Its the survival of the fittest, as Darwin says! We didnot kill the larger animals like dinosaur or the mammoths!

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