[Animals] This is why big animals move slower

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The researchers analyzed the behavior and speed of more than 500 species and these were the results

Scientists explained that the slow movement of large animals is related to heat and energy (Disney+ Screenshot)
The animal kingdom never ceases to amaze scientists, the more research is done on different species, new elements are discovered that help to understand why some specimens behave in different ways in certain scenarios.

Mobility in species is vital for their survival, displacement helps to understand the behavior patterns that animals have in aspects of survival and adaptation to habitats that undergo constant transformations due to the problems triggered by climate change.

Alexander Dyer, a researcher at the German Center for Biodiversity Research (iDiv), led the study "The travel speeds of large animals are limited by their heat dissipation capabilities", which was published by the scientific journal PLoS Biology. in April of this year.

 

In this work, the research team explained the reason behind why large species move at slow speeds.

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movement capabilities

 

 

The research team explained that movement in animals helps to understand behavior patterns (EFE/Jon Hrusa)
Ulrich Borse, Emilio Berti, Benjamin Rosenbaum and Myriam R. Hirt, who made up the rest of the work team, described in the article that these new observations help to understand "the movement capabilities that animals have and can be used to estimate the movement speed of any animal based on its size”, they detailed.

During the investigation, the scientists examined the relationships that the size of the animal had with its speed to move from one point to another.

Dyer and his colleagues analyzed this aspect in 532 species of different sizes and started from the assumption that larger animals -with longer legs or wings- could travel faster, however, after analyzing the observations it was shown that the medium-sized specimens are capable of sustaining faster sustained speeds.

"This approach can even be applied to predict whether an animal could move between habitats fragmented by human development, when the details of its biology are unknown," said Dyer, whose statements were rescued from the digital media specialized in science, Phys.

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warming in animals

Scientists detailed that the speed reached by animals is determined by their size (File)
Following this line of fragmented habitats, the research team suggests that large animals are the most susceptible to the effects generated by this type of phenomenon caused by humans.

One of the conclusions reached by the academics is that the speed at which a specimen can reach is related to energy and the release of heat, that is, those who move slowly do so to avoid overheating. , since their needs require more time to dissipate the heat generated by the movements.

"As a result, the highest travel speeds are achieved by animals of intermediate body mass, suggesting that larger species have a more limited ability to move," the researchers explained in their conclusions.

 

Changes in habitats due to spaces become a much greater challenge for animals, since they have to adapt to "new places", change trajectory routes in order to find water or limited resources such as food, forces species to have to expand into new territories.

 

Link: https://www.infobae.com/mascotas/2023/04/20/esta-es-la-razon-por-la-que-los-animales-grandes-se-mueven-mas-lento/