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  • Body size/Terrestrial/Aquatic

    It is easy to understand, without going into the maths why terrestrial
    animals of a certain type cannot continue to grow in size indefinitely.

    A cat the size of an elephant would have legs that were far too slender
    to support its weight. I think we know this intuitively, perhaps from
    the experiences of early childhood.

    Young children often test the objects around them to, or past, the
    limits of destruction and so learn about mechanical properties !

    For aquatic animals this limitation seems to me less clear. Someone who
    was an expert on the fish in the rivers of the highlands of Scotland
    once told me that there was no limit to their size. How big they were
    just depended on how much food they could find.

    I don't remember asking him for illustrations , and it was long ago, he
    may have been speaking about one particular species

    ************************************************** ********
    Email -

    Geoffrey.Walsh@ed.ac.uk

    http://www.ed.ac.uk/~gwalsh

    Phone (0)131.664.3046

    64, Liberton Drive,
    Edinburgh
    EH16 6NW
    U.K.

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