Nature & Environment
Elephants grew over 24 million generations
By
T.K. RandallFebruary 1, 2012 ·
14 comments
Image Credit: Sandra Fenley
Scientists have revealed that growing in size takes a lot longer for a species than shrinking in size.
It is thought that it took elephants more than 24 million generations to increase from the size of a mouse to the size they are today. Whales and other sea mammals took less time to grow due to their water-based environment. It is also thought that it takes a lot less time for a species to shrink in size by the same amount - as little as 100,000 generations.
Size change since the age of the dinosaurs 70 million years ago was tracked by generations rather than years to account for varying life spans between species.
Source:
Telegraph |
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