I think the idea is that chewing slows down your eating, which puts a cap on how much food you can take in. By being able to eat quickly, animals were able to gobble down enough nutrition to grow huge.
Slow isn't necessarily a defense, but being huge and traveling with a pack of huge friends is a good way to deter attacks. Apparently the sauropods also applied the strategy of reproducing rapidly, to recover from times of heavy losses.
Interesting, but...the article never explains how not chewing your food helps you grow large.
ReplyDeleteAnd I don't exactly understand how getting big and slow is a good defense against being eatern by predators.
I nominate that article for the annual award for the most interesting unanswered questions in a popular science article.
I think the idea is that chewing slows down your eating, which puts a cap on how much food you can take in. By being able to eat quickly, animals were able to gobble down enough nutrition to grow huge.
ReplyDeleteSlow isn't necessarily a defense, but being huge and traveling with a pack of huge friends is a good way to deter attacks. Apparently the sauropods also applied the strategy of reproducing rapidly, to recover from times of heavy losses.