Summary

Scientists have discovered that large animals move slower than smaller ones primarily to prevent overheating, challenging the previous belief that their speed is determined by mass.

Abstract

A new study reveals that the leisurely pace of large animals is a strategy to manage body temperature. Contrary to the common assumption that their movement speed is a result of their massive weight, researchers from the German Center for Biodiversity Research and Fridrich Schiller University in Jena found that animals over a ton in weight face significant challenges in dissipating heat during long-distance movements. This thermal regulation issue is due to the disproportionate growth of volume to surface area as animals increase in size, making it harder for them to release heat through their skin. The study, published in PLOS Biology, analyzed over 500 species and suggests that global warming could exacerbate these challenges, potentially forcing large animals to adapt by reducing activity or adopting nocturnal lifestyles. The findings underscore the importance of movement for animal survival and biodiversity, indicating that larger species may already have limited mobility, which could worsen with habitat loss and climate change.

Opinions

Alexander Dyer, the lead author, suggests that larger animals may need to reduce their activity levels or shift to nocturnal habits due to global warming.
The study's authors emphasize the significance of animal movement for their survival and the maintenance of global biodiversity.
The researchers note that the inability to dissipate metabolic heat leads to a decrease in speed, with larger body mass resulting in a greater reduction in speed.
The authors highlight the potential evolutionary impact of climate change on individual species, not just the largest ones.
There is an implicit call to action for increased conservation efforts, as human activities lead to habitat loss, further complicating the survival of large species that are already endangered.
The study also references previous research on tropical birds in the Amazon, which showed a decrease in body mass over the past 40 years due to rising temperatures, further illustrating the widespread impact of climate change on animal species.

Scientists have discovered the reason why large animals are slower than smaller ones. It’s not about their mass

Scientists say large animals move much slower than small animals to avoid overheating their bodies. That’s the conclusion of an analysis of more than 500 species of creatures from around the world.

The fact that large animals move slower than their smaller counterparts is nothing revelatory. Although giant elephants can run (quite fast, by the way), they spend most of their time taking lazy walks. They seem to be in no hurry to go anywhere. The same is true of rhinos, hippos and giraffes. These species are not speed demons.

Large animals save energy

Until now, however, it was thought that the movement speed of large animals was largely determined by their weight. Now it turns out that this is not entirely the case. Researchers from the German Center for Biodiversity Research and Fridrich Schiller University in Jena have discovered that large individuals need to control their walking speed to avoid overheating. The researchers analyzed a total of 532 animal species.

Researchers say that this regularity mainly affects animals that weigh more than a ton. During long-distance migrations, they have difficulty maintaining adequate body temperature. This is why large creatures choose to reduce their speed, regardless of whether the animal walks, runs, swims or flies. These animals need much more time to get rid of the heat generated by muscle work.

This has to do with the geometry of the body. As an animal increases in size, its volume grows much faster than its body surface area. This means that the body contains more heat-generating tissues, which it must get rid of through the relatively small surface area of the skin, etc. Therefore, small animals freeze faster (they have a relatively large body surface through which heat “escapes”), while large animals are in danger of overheating.

[Photo by Frans van Heerden from Pexels]

Global warming is a global challenge

German scientists point to the most important aspect of this discovery — global warming. Scientists say that climate change could prove even more severe for the largest species.

“It is very possible that in the future larger animals will have to reduce their activity or will have to switch to a more nocturnal lifestyle”, according to Alexander Dyer, lead author of the study.

The researchers published the results of their work in the latest issue of the scientific journal PLOS Biology. The authors stress that movement is crucial not only for the survival of animals, but also for the preservation of biodiversity around the world.

“Although larger species should be able to travel greater distances, the analysis showed limited mobility for the largest animals”, the paper says.

“We created a model that suggests that the inability to dissipate metabolic heat leads to a decrease in speed. The larger the animal’s body mass, the greater the decrease,” the German researchers say. And they note that “this is why larger animals need to reduce their walking speed to avoid hyperthermia during long-distance migrations.”

The future of large and small animals

Prof. Dyer’s team collected data on species that ranged from insects to marine, terrestrial and flying animals. The study included only animals that live in the wild. The analysis was based on video recordings, radar and special tracking devices. The researchers say that during long distances, animals up to 1,000 kg (in the case of land and sea creatures) achieved a higher average speed. Above that weight, the speed of movement began to decrease.

The scientists also point out that their findings may prompt people to become even more involved in conservation.

“As a result of human activity, animals often lose their natural habitats. This further increases the distance they have to travel to reach a new food source. Large species, which are often already highly endangered, may be in particular danger”, the study authors say.

The researchers acknowledge that climate change and global warming could also affect the evolution of individual species. What’s more, the climate crisis is also a challenge for smaller animals. Two years ago, ornithologists studied 77 tropical bird species (a total of about 15,000 individuals) that live in the Amazon rainforest.

They found that over the past 40 years, as the average temperature increased, the mass of most species decreased regularly by about 2% every decade. The research was then published in the prestigious Science.

Source: PLOS Biology

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