why was being so large harmful to dinosaurs ???
2007-09-24 13:38:06 · 4 answers · asked by Sarah 2 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Zoology
First being large means that your reproduction rate is lower. This tends to limit your adaptability. Thus when the environment changes you can not adapt and end up dieing off.
Second (as jonmcn49 said) large organisms do stress there environment more than small ones. Look at elephants. They can ransack a forest in a short amount of time. Actually pushing over trees to strip the leaves and bark.
However you need to know that MOST dinosaurs were actually quite small. The average size was about that of a chicken.
2007-09-24 14:35:33 · answer #1 · answered by Jeff Sadler 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I'm not sure that being large actually _was_ harmful to dinosaurs. Large size developed in almost all the lineages of dinosaurs, and the giants seemed to be reasonably successful for quite a long time. Large size has also arisen in other organisms, too, presumably in response to some opportunity or some stress on the organism pool.
2007-09-24 22:20:48 · answer #2 · answered by John R 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
From what I understand, and I am not an expert, but some of the largest of the prehistoric reptiles had trouble even supporting their own weight without the aid of water for buoyancy. This would have been a major problem should their lakes experience a drought.
This is my thoughts!!!!!
2007-09-24 20:51:13 · answer #3 · answered by chahn11 4 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Could be, that being so large was a real stressor on the food supply.
2007-09-24 20:42:33 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋