And why are animals a lot smaller now?
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IIRC, it’s something to do with greater carbon dioxide levels, therefore making a much warmer climate. As a result of this, plant life has pretty much no growth limit. It only makes sense, then, that you’re gonna have herbivores evolve to huge sizes to eat these massive plants… and as the carnivores’ prey got bigger, so did they (but slightly smaller than herbivores).
As for why are animals smaller today, they evolved to be more energy efficient. It required a lot of energy to be a 1135kg, 12.8m long Titanoboa, for instance. Nowadays, the record for the heaviest snake belongs to the green anaconda, averaging at 70kg, and 4.5m long. The largest specimen ever found was a 5.21m long female weighing 97.5kg. The title for longest snake goes to the reticulated python. They can grow up to 6.5m (although specimens over 6m are rare), and weigh up to 75kg.
A very interesting question!
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