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Why Elephants Have Big Ears: Understanding Patterns of Life on Earth
Why Elephants Have Big Ears is the result of one man's lifelong quest to understand why the creatures of the earth appear and act as they do. In a wry manner and personal tone, Chris Lavers explores and solves some of nature's most challenging evolutionary mysteries, such as why birds are small and plentiful, why rivers and lakes are dominated by the few remaining large reptiles, why most of the large land-dwellers are mammals, and many more.
288 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2000
26 people are currently reading
624 people want to read
About the author
Chris Lavers
6 books8 followersDr. Chris Lavers is a senior lecturer in natural history in the School of Geography, University of Nottingham. He has written for The Spectator, New statesman, New Scientist, and The Ecologist, and has reviewed many popular science and history books for The Guardian. His first book, Why Elephants Have Big Ears, has been translated into five languages.
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
May 29, 2019
Why DO elephants have big ears? Why are large land-dwelling animals mostly mammals? Why are most birds small? Why do many reptiles live in/near bodies of water? One book to answer and explain.
...it is time to recognize crocodilians for what they truly are: perhaps the closest approximation to an unsurpasssable ecological design in the entire history of tetrapod life.
There is much science in here, but whenever I found the reading to get a little difficult for my simple mind, Chris Lavers has another dynamic point to make, featuring another set of animals. Dinosaurs make an appearance as do the various reptiles of history. And there is a fascinating explanation of what survived the Great Dying and the Great Asteroid, such as brown food chains making it because of water while green food chains shriveled up and died. That leads to the amazing development of birds and how evolution helped them to prosper.
Desert ravens, for example, have black feathers that soak up heat so effectively that the feather tips on a hot day may reach 80°C (176°F).
Along with the big lead-up to the elephants themselves, we also get a warning about what we are doing to the planet. This book was published in 2002, so you can imagine how much damage we've already added to nature. For the planet already has some deadly surprises in store, much as it did in the past when the earth exploded with super volcanoes. The author reminds us to hope that the dangerous volcanoes continue to behave themselves and that all the carbon locked up in the earth doesn't end up in the atmosphere when green areas start turning to desert.
Book Season = Spring (thermal adaptability)
...it is time to recognize crocodilians for what they truly are: perhaps the closest approximation to an unsurpasssable ecological design in the entire history of tetrapod life.
There is much science in here, but whenever I found the reading to get a little difficult for my simple mind, Chris Lavers has another dynamic point to make, featuring another set of animals. Dinosaurs make an appearance as do the various reptiles of history. And there is a fascinating explanation of what survived the Great Dying and the Great Asteroid, such as brown food chains making it because of water while green food chains shriveled up and died. That leads to the amazing development of birds and how evolution helped them to prosper.
Desert ravens, for example, have black feathers that soak up heat so effectively that the feather tips on a hot day may reach 80°C (176°F).
Along with the big lead-up to the elephants themselves, we also get a warning about what we are doing to the planet. This book was published in 2002, so you can imagine how much damage we've already added to nature. For the planet already has some deadly surprises in store, much as it did in the past when the earth exploded with super volcanoes. The author reminds us to hope that the dangerous volcanoes continue to behave themselves and that all the carbon locked up in the earth doesn't end up in the atmosphere when green areas start turning to desert.
Book Season = Spring (thermal adaptability)
October 30, 2022
The book definitely endeavours to explain the majority of the complex concepts in a very digestible manner, although it gets too technical for general readers at times. The narration of evolutionary history of mammals and reptiles is gripping and the riddles posed and answered are so commonplace that it makes the subject fascinating. It would be interesting to read the follow-up to this book that discusses the research trends and discoveries in last two decades.
April 21, 2018
This was an engaging book on a topic that I honestly hadn't really considered before, although once I realized the question of the book I was all in. It was an interesting exploration of the theories surrounding warm-bloodedness vs. cold-bloodedness, starting with a question with a "well, duh" answer (Q: Why do elephants have big ears? A: thermoregulation) and using that question and answer as a doorway into the rabbit hole of comparative morphology, survival strategies, dinosaurs, birds, competition, and invasive species all involving thermoregulation as a central theme. While my eyes did glaze over through some sections, that's unfortunately a risk in any book after a certain level of scientific involvement. This book would be readable for people without a background in biology, but they may need to look up a few things as they are mentioned in the book for a better understanding of some topics. Overall it was an interesting book exploring a topic that I (and I'm sure many others) take for granted, and I'm glad I took the time to read it.
December 21, 2011
Why Elephant Have Big Ears was a fun and informative read. If you are an animal lover and are curious about how our world along with its creatures evolved through times, then you will enjoy this book. Chris Lavers used easy to understand scientific terminology, so even if you are not a biology major, you can still appreciate and be enlightened of our animal friends.
May 13, 2012
I'm probably biased because he's my lecturer but I do think 'Why Elephants have big ears?' is amazing. Everything is explained really well and it is enjoyable to read. Lavers has some brilliant ideas and projects them in strangely wonderful ways.
August 14, 2019
Splendid and readable
Chris Lavers is a paleontologist who specializes in wildlife ecology. It is from this point of view that he presents some of the ideas and controversies of current evolutionary theory along with some of the excitement of recent discoveries and understandings in a popular and nontechnical manner. His readable text is aimed precisely at the educated nonspecialist, but without a hint of any dumbing down.
In the title chapter we learn that elephants pump the warm blood from the interior of their bodies to the array of tubes in their ears to dissipate excess body heat. From this consideration Lavers is led to a discussion of whether dinosaurs were warm blooded or not. The evidence he presents makes it clear to this observer that they were, but his cautious conclusion is that the case hasn't been proven quite yet. Lavers hints that the dinosaurs may have to be put in another category, perhaps somewhere between warm blooded and cold, or maybe even somewhere beyond. How about: "I'm hot-blooded, check it and see" (to reprise a rock lyric).
Lavers goes to considerable depth to demonstrate how much we can learn by combining evidence from the fossil record with what we know about the metabolism of animals and how their bodies work. Dinosaur anatomy, for example, strongly suggests a closer kinship with today's avian world than with the reptilian. Furthermore, the large size of many dinosaurs is inconsistent with cold-bloodedness. Reptiles can't get as big as a Brontosaurus because (for one thing) they would not be able to regulate their temperature. Lavers points out that all the really big animals on earth today, with the exception of the giant tortoises, Komodo dragons and some snakes--and they aren't really that big--are warm-blooded. He cites the arguments of Robert Bakker and others to conclude that T. Rex, for example, wouldn't have the metabolic power to run down prey if it were cold-blooded.
I found Lavers's discussion of the difference between non-oxygen-based metabolic reactions capable of "supercharged" bursts of short-lived energy typical of reptiles, and the sustainable aerobic reactions typical of mammals like dogs and humans very interesting. The quick bursts are those of the sprinter who is wasted after at most a few hundred yards, while the aerobic engine sustains the pace of the long distance runner. Also interesting is the material in the chapter "Life on the Edge" about how birds and mammals maintain their body temperatures in the climate extremes of the deserts and the polar regions of the earth. Lavers notes that in very cold places there are no reptiles.
In some of this I am reminded of the famous and splendid essay by J. B. S. Haldane, "On Being the Right Size," published many decades ago. Lavers presents the same kind of reasoned argument based on physiology and anatomy to demonstrate why animals are built the way they are and why it would be difficult for them to be constructed otherwise. One comes away from the reading with a sense of having learned something important and exciting, a sense of having acquired understanding, not merely a collection of facts.
--Dennis Littrell, author of “Understanding Evolution and Ourselves”
Chris Lavers is a paleontologist who specializes in wildlife ecology. It is from this point of view that he presents some of the ideas and controversies of current evolutionary theory along with some of the excitement of recent discoveries and understandings in a popular and nontechnical manner. His readable text is aimed precisely at the educated nonspecialist, but without a hint of any dumbing down.
In the title chapter we learn that elephants pump the warm blood from the interior of their bodies to the array of tubes in their ears to dissipate excess body heat. From this consideration Lavers is led to a discussion of whether dinosaurs were warm blooded or not. The evidence he presents makes it clear to this observer that they were, but his cautious conclusion is that the case hasn't been proven quite yet. Lavers hints that the dinosaurs may have to be put in another category, perhaps somewhere between warm blooded and cold, or maybe even somewhere beyond. How about: "I'm hot-blooded, check it and see" (to reprise a rock lyric).
Lavers goes to considerable depth to demonstrate how much we can learn by combining evidence from the fossil record with what we know about the metabolism of animals and how their bodies work. Dinosaur anatomy, for example, strongly suggests a closer kinship with today's avian world than with the reptilian. Furthermore, the large size of many dinosaurs is inconsistent with cold-bloodedness. Reptiles can't get as big as a Brontosaurus because (for one thing) they would not be able to regulate their temperature. Lavers points out that all the really big animals on earth today, with the exception of the giant tortoises, Komodo dragons and some snakes--and they aren't really that big--are warm-blooded. He cites the arguments of Robert Bakker and others to conclude that T. Rex, for example, wouldn't have the metabolic power to run down prey if it were cold-blooded.
I found Lavers's discussion of the difference between non-oxygen-based metabolic reactions capable of "supercharged" bursts of short-lived energy typical of reptiles, and the sustainable aerobic reactions typical of mammals like dogs and humans very interesting. The quick bursts are those of the sprinter who is wasted after at most a few hundred yards, while the aerobic engine sustains the pace of the long distance runner. Also interesting is the material in the chapter "Life on the Edge" about how birds and mammals maintain their body temperatures in the climate extremes of the deserts and the polar regions of the earth. Lavers notes that in very cold places there are no reptiles.
In some of this I am reminded of the famous and splendid essay by J. B. S. Haldane, "On Being the Right Size," published many decades ago. Lavers presents the same kind of reasoned argument based on physiology and anatomy to demonstrate why animals are built the way they are and why it would be difficult for them to be constructed otherwise. One comes away from the reading with a sense of having learned something important and exciting, a sense of having acquired understanding, not merely a collection of facts.
--Dennis Littrell, author of “Understanding Evolution and Ourselves”
May 8, 2020
Bummer that I was expecting something that the book really wasn’t. Of course I was drawn in by the title and elephants on the cover knowing that it would be a book about animal science or some biological or environmental science but what it ended up being was a deep dive, a very deep dive into warm and cold bloodedness, body heat, proportions, and the like without much entertainment. I don’t need a song and dance but when I’m not a scientist, I need a little something to make the information stick. There was nothing there but a lot of data and measurements along with figure drawings of animals. Too dry for me.
September 6, 2025
Wonderful read! Chris made this information-packed book all about animals current and past easy and accessible to read. I walked away with a much greater understanding and appreciation of the cold- and warm-blooded beings of our world. The final chapter compares the current anthropogenic climate change with the end-Permian extinction, a comparison that has only become more appropriate with additional information learned in the two and a half decades since this book was published.
February 10, 2018
DNF.
Sorry, but I was super bored with it. I enjoy biology and evolution as much as the next person, but I found the writing really dry.
Sorry, but I was super bored with it. I enjoy biology and evolution as much as the next person, but I found the writing really dry.
February 9, 2025
Soft shell, hard science.
February 27, 2017
Subtitled Nature's Engine and the Order of Life, this book seeks to show us in terms of energy, mass and volume how and why forms of animal life past and present differ from one another.
A simple illustration is used to introduce geometric principles: a melon twice the length of an orange has a surface area four times that of the orange, but it also has eight times the volume and eight times as much juice. Hence a 4cm fish only has to grow 1cm longer to double its weight.
These principles explain such matters as why ostriches can't grow large enough wings to support them in flight, why large animals conserve heat better than a number of smaller animals of the same total weight, and what benefits may fall to light creatures in certain environments and heavy creatures in others.
Fascinating information is presented which the reader may not have previously considered. The giraffe, for instance, has a blood pressure of 300mm, in order to pump blood up to its head. But how does this not explode the fragile capillaries in its lungs? The division of mammal hearts solves this problem, as the right half pumps blood to the lungs and thence to the left half of the heart, which has thicker walls of muscle and thus pumps blood at a much stronger pressure around the body. Coldblood hearts are differently structured.
The author is a lecturer at the University of Nottingham. He points out that, among large creatures, warmbloods chiefly inhabit land, with a very few species of coldblood such as Komodo dragons: whereas freshwater is dominated by coldbloods such as crocodiles, with a very few species such as manatees representing warmbloods. If a preserved dinosaur heart could be found, that would prove once and for all whether they were warm or cold blooded. The author puts forward both sides of the argument and explains the differing metabolic engines dinosaurs would have had in either case.
I differ with the author over a couple of points. He says that Grevy's zebra is the heaviest equine, followed by the horse. Even the largest zebra cannot weigh more than an eighteen-hand Clydesdale. However in general I would recommend this book for those interested in biology of all sorts or in the loss of biodiversity in today's threatened environment.
Or for those who enjoy fascinating facts - there is one cold-blooded mammal, the naked mole rat of Africa, living entirely underground with its body heat at the air temperature of its tunnels. The amazing variety of poisonous plants and invertebrates in Australia may be directly related to the low soil fertility level. Birds conduct breath through their hollow bones. The smallest warmbloods - Kitti's hognosed bat, Cuban bee hummingbird and Etruscan shrew - weigh two grams, though reptiles and amphibians are commonly smaller.
And the answer to the query in the title is that, given the ear size of ice-age mammoths compared to elephants and their respective environments, the elephant's big ears are heat radiators.
A simple illustration is used to introduce geometric principles: a melon twice the length of an orange has a surface area four times that of the orange, but it also has eight times the volume and eight times as much juice. Hence a 4cm fish only has to grow 1cm longer to double its weight.
These principles explain such matters as why ostriches can't grow large enough wings to support them in flight, why large animals conserve heat better than a number of smaller animals of the same total weight, and what benefits may fall to light creatures in certain environments and heavy creatures in others.
Fascinating information is presented which the reader may not have previously considered. The giraffe, for instance, has a blood pressure of 300mm, in order to pump blood up to its head. But how does this not explode the fragile capillaries in its lungs? The division of mammal hearts solves this problem, as the right half pumps blood to the lungs and thence to the left half of the heart, which has thicker walls of muscle and thus pumps blood at a much stronger pressure around the body. Coldblood hearts are differently structured.
The author is a lecturer at the University of Nottingham. He points out that, among large creatures, warmbloods chiefly inhabit land, with a very few species of coldblood such as Komodo dragons: whereas freshwater is dominated by coldbloods such as crocodiles, with a very few species such as manatees representing warmbloods. If a preserved dinosaur heart could be found, that would prove once and for all whether they were warm or cold blooded. The author puts forward both sides of the argument and explains the differing metabolic engines dinosaurs would have had in either case.
I differ with the author over a couple of points. He says that Grevy's zebra is the heaviest equine, followed by the horse. Even the largest zebra cannot weigh more than an eighteen-hand Clydesdale. However in general I would recommend this book for those interested in biology of all sorts or in the loss of biodiversity in today's threatened environment.
Or for those who enjoy fascinating facts - there is one cold-blooded mammal, the naked mole rat of Africa, living entirely underground with its body heat at the air temperature of its tunnels. The amazing variety of poisonous plants and invertebrates in Australia may be directly related to the low soil fertility level. Birds conduct breath through their hollow bones. The smallest warmbloods - Kitti's hognosed bat, Cuban bee hummingbird and Etruscan shrew - weigh two grams, though reptiles and amphibians are commonly smaller.
And the answer to the query in the title is that, given the ear size of ice-age mammoths compared to elephants and their respective environments, the elephant's big ears are heat radiators.
September 16, 2016
SUPERB,“Why Elephants Have Big Ears” was a great non-fiction read. If you are looking for a book strictly about elephants then this book is not for you. I was quite disappointed when I found out the secret of Elephant’s monstrous ears within the first twelve pages. However, author Chris Lavers, does do an excellent job of describing the adaptations of numerous animals. The way Chris interacts with his readers using many different techniques to explain adaptations such as visual learning, hand on teaching, and small illustrations made following the complex formulas and law of physics he uses in the book easier to understand. This book was very informational and a great book to open and broaden your knowledge. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in learning quickly the basics of adaptation or whom might be interested in any adaptations at all. There may also be a surprising conviction about dinosaurs that movies and TV shows falsely advertise daily. Read this book and I guarantee you will learn something new.
July 12, 2019
Why Elephants Have Big Ears is an incredible gem that I’ve wanted to reread from the moment I turned the last page. No summary I’ve ever read about this book has done it justice. It is a rather scientific but never dry account of how even the most innocuous animals have extremely specific adaptations.
This isn’t a collection of specific trivia nor is it riddled with romantic speculation. Rather, Lavers approach is aimed at big picture thinking. Lavers hands you the tools to understand for yourself how animals survive in their environments, pointing out the subtleties of physiology that we as very adaptable creatures never put much thought into. There’s an extensive discussion on how warm bloodedness likely developed and how ecology directly shapes physiology. There is so much more to talk about, but I could not possibly do it all justice. Just pick up the book for yourself and you will see.
This isn’t a collection of specific trivia nor is it riddled with romantic speculation. Rather, Lavers approach is aimed at big picture thinking. Lavers hands you the tools to understand for yourself how animals survive in their environments, pointing out the subtleties of physiology that we as very adaptable creatures never put much thought into. There’s an extensive discussion on how warm bloodedness likely developed and how ecology directly shapes physiology. There is so much more to talk about, but I could not possibly do it all justice. Just pick up the book for yourself and you will see.
January 20, 2009
I'm struggling through this book. It's fascinating but very much physics oreiented and may be a little too scientific for me.
January 27, 2009
Good overview of things evolutionary. Also learned why elephants have big ears.
June 16, 2017
Solid, informative, but could be a bit exaggerated at times.
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews