Surabaya –
The largest animal today when compared to the prehistoric animals that ever inhabited the earth, its size is nothing. Call it dinosaurs, crocodiles, snakes, or any kind of giant fish.
Vertebrate paleobiologist at Florida State University in Tallahassee Greg Erickson says that the large size of ancient animals is known from the abundance of fossil evidence found.
Ever since scientists discovered dinosaur bone fossils in the 19th century, they have come up with ideas to explain why giant animals existed millions of years ago but are now dwindling.
“No one can pinpoint one definitive answer. It’s very multifactorial,” he was quoted as saying detikEdu, from LiveScience.
Even so, LiveScience noted that there are at least 4 reasons why prehistoric animals were larger than today’s large animals. Here’s a summary.
1. The Great Victim
Some of the main differences between dinosaurs and today’s largest animals, mammals, are the prey they hunted.
Dinosaurs grew bigger because they ate the prey that was large at the time. However, in the course of the adaptation process, giant animals can only eat smaller animals.
2. Efficient Eater
The existence of sauropod dinosaurs led to a second hypothesis about why ancient mammals grew so large. The reason is because of the efficient absorption of food.
This is because sauropods had such long necks, that they became more efficient eaters than other large herbivores.
3. Airbag Light Bone
University of Edinburgh paleontologist Steve Brusatte said dinosaurs had air sacs that could extend from their lungs to their bones. This creates a sturdy yet lightweight scaffold.
“It gave the dinosaur skeletons that were still strong and still flexible, but light. It helped them get bigger and bigger and bigger,” Brusatte said.
Brusatte sets an example in the same way as a skyscraper, which gets bigger and bigger due to the internal supporting structure.
4. Excellent Oxygen
A 2016 study published in the journal PLOS One revealed that the large size of ancient animals required the right environment.
One of the researchers, Vermeij concluded that the giant animals depend largely on highly developed ecological resources.
In other words, ecology needs to produce enough oxygen, food, and habitat to grow a truly gigantic creature.
The ancient atmosphere had a higher concentration of oxygen. This may play a role in gigantism, especially among insects.
A 2012 study in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences noted that wing spans among prehistoric largest insects tracked increases in oxygen concentrations.
For information, all ancient animals that were very large were generally the top predators of their time or animals that were not too susceptible to being eaten by other animals.
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