/sci/ - Science & Math

[Anonymous No.1751060]

Question about maximum size for land animals.

I vaguely understand that land animals are limited in their maximum physical size by their weight/mass. You couldn't just scale an elephant up 10X and expect it to live, because the bone structure of a normal elephant couldn't support the mass of an elephant 10X that size.

I've heard it voiced that Godzilla could never exist because he would be crushed beneath his own weight - his bones would shatter and he would suffocate.

If this is the case, how did the gigantic Sauropods exist? I know they had air sacs in their vertebra as well as internal scaffolding that lightened and strengthened their skeletons, but they still must have had an astounding amount of mass and weight to lug around. Why didn't their bones break? Look at Argentinosaurus, for instance. Yes, it's leg bones are stouter than a modern elephants, but not by much.

Are there any theories on this, or is there not enough information yet?

[Anonymous No.1751064]

sauropod comparisons

[Anonymous No.1751068]

I remember hearing there was more oxygen in the atmosphere allowing for stronger muscles. Don't know if there's evidence for that though.

[Anonymous No.1751072]

[None !caG84MXea2 No.1751076]

mass up is different than mass out.

[Anonymous No.1751078]

>>1751068
A lot of this.

[Anonymous No.1751080]

>>1751060
>>1751064
Large dinos evolved the bones and muscles to support their weight.

[Anonymous No.1751081]

>>1751068

I heard that too, but I haven't found any supporting evidence for it either.

[Anonymous No.1751089]

>>1751080

Well yes, that's a given. But how did it work? What was different about their bones and muscles that allowed them to scale up, whereas today's megafauna would die.

[Anonymous No.1751094]

>>1751068

I've heard this to be true in the case for spiders.

[Anonymous No.1751100]

Have you ever held a bird? It is remarkably light. A big part of that is hollow bones. The same hollow bones that allow birds to be light enough to fly, allowed dinos to be light enough to be huge.

Mammals have solid, heavier bones, with less strength per weight. So they are more size-limited.

[Anonymous No.1751118]

One of the ways we know oxygen levels were higher in earlier ears was is from the size of giant insects. They had the same breathing apparatus as insects today - spiracles. What limits insects today is that spiracles can only absorb so much oxygen from the current atmosphere because their circulatory system isn't efficient. But if the concentration of oxygen was higher, they could absorb more and grow far larger - which is why we had cockroaches as large as rats and dragonflies the size of eagles at one point.

Likewise, the increased oxygen would have lead to increased musculature in all animals.

[Anonymous No.1751130]

>>1751100

I have held a bird before - but I have also fed Ostriches. Ostriches don't have hollow bones, their bones are filled with marrow like mammals. Sauropods also had huge heavy bones like elephants.

[Anonymous No.1751155]

This is /sci/ - science and math.

Dinosaurs are a fantasy created by museums to draw more visitors. They never actually existed.

Now, with that settled, let's get back to real science like String Theory.

[Anonymous No.1751169]

>>1751155

>real science
>string theory

[Anonymous No.1751508]

>>1751169
it's called "M-Theory", asshats.

[Anonymous No.1751521]

>>1751118
I can't wait for the day when we can engineer massive bugs to prey on our flesh. :)

[Anonymous No.1751531]

>>1751118
I thought it had more to do with bugs not actually taking in their oxygen like normal animals but having little holes in their chitin on the side that acted like vents.
You know, instead of breathing in they'd just sort of let the oxygen "vent" into them?
I'm not saying it's different, but thats a part of it right?

[Anonymous No.1751773]

>>1751531

Yep. That's how spiracles work.