for example how did a whale get so big compared to other animals
and i guess from watching the discovery channel there were dinosaurs like 10 or more times larger than the biggest whales
and i guess from watching the discovery channel there were dinosaurs like 10 or more times larger than the biggest whales
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They got big by having genes that tell them to keep growing. Of course, there are also genes that tell the body to stop growing. Therefore, it is the environment, the animal's physiology, morphology and the genes that combine to determine how large an animal can grow. In general vegetarians can grow bigger because their food is abundant and they don't have to be quick to catch their food. Meat eaters have to be faster than their prey, or else it is like a dog chasing a car, i.e. fruitless. That said, the animal's morphology dictates how big it can grow because one has to have legs strong enough to support one's weight on land. In the water, whales do not need legs because the water can support their weight. So, whales can grow as big as they want as long as they can find enough food.
The climate also plays a part, along with the animal's physiology. Some animals (such as birds and mammals) are endothermic, meaning they generate heat internally to stay warm. Endothermic animals cannot grow too big in hot climates because the internal heat they generate means they can easily overheat when living in a warm climate. Further, large animals have small body surfaces proportionally, making it harder to gain or lose body heat.
Endotherms such as mammals can grow quite big in a cold climate, such as the last ice age because their large size and small body surface help them to conserve heat. The same animals will tend to overheat quickly in a warm climate.
Ectotherms do not generate their own body heat so they tend to grow big in warm climates. That is because in a cool climate it would take a large ectotherm way too long to warm up by basking in the sun, since their body surface area is small. Before they can warm up, the sun would have gone down. If you look at the solar panels on some people's roof, you can see that they have surfaces, because the lager the surface, the greater the amount of solar energy that is captured. However, the same animal in a warm climate can maintain a warm and steady body temperature because the small surface area help them conserve heat. Therefore dinosaurs, which lived in the warm and equable Mesozoic area, were able to grow to enormous size. Those people who claim that dinosaurs were "warm-blooded" are only partly right. Their blood was warm because the weather was warm, not because they were endothermic.
The climate also plays a part, along with the animal's physiology. Some animals (such as birds and mammals) are endothermic, meaning they generate heat internally to stay warm. Endothermic animals cannot grow too big in hot climates because the internal heat they generate means they can easily overheat when living in a warm climate. Further, large animals have small body surfaces proportionally, making it harder to gain or lose body heat.
Endotherms such as mammals can grow quite big in a cold climate, such as the last ice age because their large size and small body surface help them to conserve heat. The same animals will tend to overheat quickly in a warm climate.
Ectotherms do not generate their own body heat so they tend to grow big in warm climates. That is because in a cool climate it would take a large ectotherm way too long to warm up by basking in the sun, since their body surface area is small. Before they can warm up, the sun would have gone down. If you look at the solar panels on some people's roof, you can see that they have surfaces, because the lager the surface, the greater the amount of solar energy that is captured. However, the same animal in a warm climate can maintain a warm and steady body temperature because the small surface area help them conserve heat. Therefore dinosaurs, which lived in the warm and equable Mesozoic area, were able to grow to enormous size. Those people who claim that dinosaurs were "warm-blooded" are only partly right. Their blood was warm because the weather was warm, not because they were endothermic.