Why don't animals grow after a certain age?

Answer 1

This phenomena, known as finite growth (opposite to infinte), is only common in birds, mammals and cetain groups of arthropods (insects and spiders etc)
This strategy has evolved as a way to prevent the organism from outgrowing its food source. If a chipmunk were the size of lets say a rotweiler, then they would have to eat so much so often, that it would consume 23 and 1/2 hours a day, just eating.
Many animals have a certain metabolic zone, it is related to body size and activity.
Repriles and amphibians continually grow throughout their lives, this is because their food sources can change. Young snakes can go from feeding on worms and slugs, all the way up to mice, birds and other larger animals. They have adaptations to allow this conitinual grow to exist.
Many large warm blooded animals (birds and mammals) have a very difficult time thermoregulating. If they were much larger than their determined fintite growth, they would burn themselves out just trying to cool down or warm up. Phyiologically they would not be able to maintain proper body temperature. Reptiles on the other hand just have to change from being in the sun to being in the shade, this allows them change their temperature without the worries of overheating, panting, shivering and all the other energetically expensive activities that the fintite growing homeotherms must expereince.

I hope that answers your question

Answer 2

animals do not grow after a certain age for the same reason humans do not grow after a certain age...it is just the same...after a certain age our cells are fully developed and body starts diverting its energy towards developing other functions of our body...

Answer 3

There has to be a limit on a creature's size, otherwise the Earth would be way overpopulated. The bigger something is, the more energy it takes to keep it moving. The more energy it takes to move a creature, the more it has to eat. If everything kept growing forever, there wouldn't be enough environment to keep it alive. There have to be limits or it wouldn't work.

Answer 4

Are you talking about animals or are you including humans in that group? And the answer is because after a while, we'd be so large and ungainly that we wouldn't be able to survive.

Answer 5

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Answer 6

Genes are programed to grow until a predetermined point then stop and hold.

Answer 7

it takes a lot of energy to grow. That energy is diverted for reproductive purposes

Answer 8

if they will grow then we will stop growing.

Answer 9

why dont you ask them itself