Re: Carnivore Energetics: Why Are Lions Not As Big As Elephants?

["Jaime A. Headden" <qilongia@yahoo.com>]

Sim Koning (simkoning@msn.com) wrote:

<Maybe I?m asking a dumb question, but if that?s the case, couldn?t mammalian 
predators evolve slower metabolic rates and achieve the same mass as a T. rex?>

  What is a slow predator but a prey food for something faster? Mammals don't
currently need to get bigger to munch on the biggest herbivores, since in many
cases, they compensate for having pack groups that increase success in making
kills, and thus render size a non-issue. Further, large mammals avoid predators
in size, but the downshot is that to do so, they decrease offspring production,
and that is further offset by survivability of offspring. This is true even of
whales and elephants, both of which are targeted prey choices.

  Cheers,

Jaime A. Headden
http://bitestuff.blogspot.com/

"Innocent, unbiased observation is a myth." --- P.B. Medawar (1969)


 
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