We always hear about how big ancient sharks, alligators, birds were. What was the advantage of being such a massive size and what caused them to become smaller? To my understanding its best to be smaller because of the square-cube law, then why are there exceptions like whales?
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Imagine you have a toy that you can build and change. Well, animals are kind of like that too, but they change over a really, really long time, like a super-duper long game of pretend.
A long, long time ago, when the Earth was different, animals had to be big to do certain things. For example, huge dinosaurs needed to eat a lot of plants or other animals to stay full and strong. Their big bodies helped them survive in their world.
As time went on, the Earth started to change. It became colder or hotter, the plants changed, and even the other animals they played with changed. Some of these changes made being big not as helpful as it used to be. Smaller animals could find enough food and hide better.
So, the animals that were better at being smaller and finding new ways to get food started to do well. They had babies that were good at the same things, and these little animals continued to grow and change over a super long time.
That’s why animals we see now are often smaller than the really, really big ones from long ago. The world around them changed, and they changed too, like playing a new game with new rules.
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