Is it related to food? Or genetics or climate or something else? Thank you!
In: Biology
It’s genetics. First and foremost, there’s natural selection. Natural selection will only keep those traits that give an advantage for survival, and for humans being much bigger than we are is actually a disadvantage. Neanderthals, for example, were noticeably stronger than homo sapiens (us) and, scientists think, probably smarter too. But because they were so much stronger and faster than us they never developed tools to the extent that our ancestors did, which led to them being out-competed and going extinct.
Also, there’s the square-cube law to consider. The absolute largest a human could get without significant changes to our anatomy is around 8 or 9 feet. Any bigger than that and the structures of our legs couldn’t handle the weight. In fact, the one man in history to actually get that big (Robert Wadlow, 8’11”) had to use a cane and leg braces to walk due to the strain on his legs. He weighed over half a ton despite being pretty slim. That’s the square-cube law in action.
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