What do you think?
Rate this book
Nature's Giants: The Biology and Evolution of the World's Largest Lifeforms
A beautifully illustrated exploration of the science behind the awe-inspiring giants of past and present
The colossal plants and animals of our world—dinosaurs, whales, and even trees—are a source of unending fascination, and their sheer scale can be truly impressive. Size is integral to the way that organisms experience the a puddle that a human being would step over without thinking is an entire world to thousands of microscopic rotifers. But why are creatures the size that they are? Why aren’t bugs the size of elephants, or whales the size of goldfish?
In this lavishly illustrated new book, biologist Graeme Ruxton explains how and why nature’s giants came to be so big—for example, how decreased oxygen levels limited the size of insects and how island isolation allowed small-bodied animals to evolve larger body sizes. Through a diverse array of examples, from huge butterflies to giant squid, Ruxton explores the physics, biology, and evolutionary drivers behind organism size, showing what it’s like to live large.
The colossal plants and animals of our world—dinosaurs, whales, and even trees—are a source of unending fascination, and their sheer scale can be truly impressive. Size is integral to the way that organisms experience the a puddle that a human being would step over without thinking is an entire world to thousands of microscopic rotifers. But why are creatures the size that they are? Why aren’t bugs the size of elephants, or whales the size of goldfish?
In this lavishly illustrated new book, biologist Graeme Ruxton explains how and why nature’s giants came to be so big—for example, how decreased oxygen levels limited the size of insects and how island isolation allowed small-bodied animals to evolve larger body sizes. Through a diverse array of examples, from huge butterflies to giant squid, Ruxton explores the physics, biology, and evolutionary drivers behind organism size, showing what it’s like to live large.
224 pages, Hardcover
Published June 11, 2019
1 person is currently reading
65 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
September 27, 2020
It occurred to me that giraffes were never mentioned in the book, notwithstanding being featured on the cover. But never mind that, there were plenty of giant animals, and some giant plants thrown in at the end. I would say the book is an advanced high school level biology text, with clear yet sophisticated explanations of the physical and ecological constraints that limit the size of vertebrates and invertebrates, extant and extinct. Yet there is much we still do not know about the biology of dinosaurs, by far the largest animals to have existed in Earth's history, to understand why they were so much larger than mammals (on land at least) ever were. For instance, sauropods, the largest dinosaurs, exceeded 30m in length and weighed around 70 tons, while extinct elephants got up to just over 20 tons.
August 29, 2022
Ruxton describes the largest of the animals and other organisms - both extant and prehistoric - showing how they have evolved to suit their ecosystem and lifestyle.
To place large animals in context, he first covers the scaling effect of physics on increased body size:
- as body size increases, mass increases as the cube while surface area increases as the square
- muscle strength increases as the square, making larger animals relatively less strong
- metabolism changes at a power of 2.25 (0.75 of mass), so larger animals need proportionally less food
- as metabolism increases faster than surface area, larger animals require larger organs for respiration and digestion and must deal more with over-heating
- bone strength increases as the square, requiring large animals to reduce impact and keep their weight over their legs
The author goes on to examine each group of large animals, including prehistoric creatures, showing how they had evolved to prosper in their environment.
Most extant animal groups show a size range where the lighter species are more common, with a smaller number of heavier species. Dinosaurs are different in that the larger species were more common. It is possible that the advantages of feeding and protection from predators were more important at the time.
While the largest elephants are 12 tonnes, the prehistoric giant rhinos - Paraceratherium - were 5 metres tall and estimated to weigh 15 tonnes. Unlike the elephants, they appear to have browsed on soft leaves. They disappeared about 23 million years ago, possibly due to competition from the elephants.
The sirenians, including the manatees and dugong, have a low metabolism and their size helps control heat loss. All are warm water animals. The now extinct Steller's Sea Cow lived in a very small part of the Arctic, but was very large to minimize heat loss in the frigid waters.
The baleen whales are generally very large animals, but only became large about 4.5 million years ago. It appears that climate changes resulted in the waters near the poles becoming especially productive. Larger size allowed the whales to cope with the cold and make use of fat reserves for travel between feeding areas and reproductive areas.
The author poses the question of why whales are bigger than fish. The answer would seem to come down to the difference in metabolism, endomorphs being better able to cope with unpredictable concentrations of food.
The sharks are some of the largest predators of the seas. Few bony fish are nearly as large. The Ocean Sunfish and the Jurassic Leedsichthys are bony fish, but curiously have mostly cartilaginous skeletons like the sharks.
The sperm whale is the largest toothed whale, much bigger than the second largest - Baird's Beaked Whale. Unique to this whale is the spermaceti organ. Several theories have been posited as to the purpose of this organ. Ancestors of the sperm whale include the giant Livyatan melvillei which was probably able to attack the giant shark, megalodon. Interestingly, they too had the spermaceti organ.
The largest birds of today do not exceed 20 kg, suggesting that the demands of flight place a limit on the size of flying birds. However, two prehistoric birds where well above this limit: Pelaornis sandersi which appeared to be a fish eating soaring bird of the nature of an albatross, and Argentavis magnificens which was a heavier inland bird, probably a vulture like the condors.
A limit on the size of insects is the passive diffusion of oxygen for respiration. During the Carboniferous period, oxygen reached 30 percent of the atmosphere, allowing insects to become very large. When oxygen increased from 10 to 20 percent during the Cretaceous period, insects did not increase in size as predation increased with the rise of the birds.
Only discovered in 2009, Darwin's bark spider spin webs only across rivers, apparently to feed on insect hatches such as mayflies. Its silk is ten times stronger than Kevlar.
As the size of aquatic arthropods is limited by oxygen uptake, the largest examples are found in cold waters. The author incorrectly states that "Warmer waters actually contain a little more dissolved oxygen ...".
Ruxton concludes with charts of the relative masses of various types of organisms on earth. Small dominates. For example the ants represent 20 percent of the mass of living animals. Large sized animals are adaptations to very specific niches.
To place large animals in context, he first covers the scaling effect of physics on increased body size:
- as body size increases, mass increases as the cube while surface area increases as the square
- muscle strength increases as the square, making larger animals relatively less strong
- metabolism changes at a power of 2.25 (0.75 of mass), so larger animals need proportionally less food
- as metabolism increases faster than surface area, larger animals require larger organs for respiration and digestion and must deal more with over-heating
- bone strength increases as the square, requiring large animals to reduce impact and keep their weight over their legs
The author goes on to examine each group of large animals, including prehistoric creatures, showing how they had evolved to prosper in their environment.
Most extant animal groups show a size range where the lighter species are more common, with a smaller number of heavier species. Dinosaurs are different in that the larger species were more common. It is possible that the advantages of feeding and protection from predators were more important at the time.
While the largest elephants are 12 tonnes, the prehistoric giant rhinos - Paraceratherium - were 5 metres tall and estimated to weigh 15 tonnes. Unlike the elephants, they appear to have browsed on soft leaves. They disappeared about 23 million years ago, possibly due to competition from the elephants.
The sirenians, including the manatees and dugong, have a low metabolism and their size helps control heat loss. All are warm water animals. The now extinct Steller's Sea Cow lived in a very small part of the Arctic, but was very large to minimize heat loss in the frigid waters.
The baleen whales are generally very large animals, but only became large about 4.5 million years ago. It appears that climate changes resulted in the waters near the poles becoming especially productive. Larger size allowed the whales to cope with the cold and make use of fat reserves for travel between feeding areas and reproductive areas.
The author poses the question of why whales are bigger than fish. The answer would seem to come down to the difference in metabolism, endomorphs being better able to cope with unpredictable concentrations of food.
The sharks are some of the largest predators of the seas. Few bony fish are nearly as large. The Ocean Sunfish and the Jurassic Leedsichthys are bony fish, but curiously have mostly cartilaginous skeletons like the sharks.
The sperm whale is the largest toothed whale, much bigger than the second largest - Baird's Beaked Whale. Unique to this whale is the spermaceti organ. Several theories have been posited as to the purpose of this organ. Ancestors of the sperm whale include the giant Livyatan melvillei which was probably able to attack the giant shark, megalodon. Interestingly, they too had the spermaceti organ.
The largest birds of today do not exceed 20 kg, suggesting that the demands of flight place a limit on the size of flying birds. However, two prehistoric birds where well above this limit: Pelaornis sandersi which appeared to be a fish eating soaring bird of the nature of an albatross, and Argentavis magnificens which was a heavier inland bird, probably a vulture like the condors.
A limit on the size of insects is the passive diffusion of oxygen for respiration. During the Carboniferous period, oxygen reached 30 percent of the atmosphere, allowing insects to become very large. When oxygen increased from 10 to 20 percent during the Cretaceous period, insects did not increase in size as predation increased with the rise of the birds.
Only discovered in 2009, Darwin's bark spider spin webs only across rivers, apparently to feed on insect hatches such as mayflies. Its silk is ten times stronger than Kevlar.
As the size of aquatic arthropods is limited by oxygen uptake, the largest examples are found in cold waters. The author incorrectly states that "Warmer waters actually contain a little more dissolved oxygen ...".
Ruxton concludes with charts of the relative masses of various types of organisms on earth. Small dominates. For example the ants represent 20 percent of the mass of living animals. Large sized animals are adaptations to very specific niches.
December 16, 2019
I loved the diagrams and pictures. They really complimented what the authors were saying. I kind of got a little bored about halfway through the book, but it was still overall fairly interesting.
October 26, 2020
I love books like this. They have so many interesting facts. I can read different parts at different times. Not a technical book, it is written for anyone. I love that it has a lot of pictures.
October 15, 2022
Lorge.
Full review at: https://skybookcorner.blogspot.com/20...
Full review at: https://skybookcorner.blogspot.com/20...
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews