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Big animals move slower than small ones to avoid getting too hot study finds
Image source, Getty Images
When animals move across long distances, bigger animals choose to go more slowly to avoid overheating, scientists have found.
In a study of 532 animals, it was discovered that those weighing over a ton (about 907 kilograms) move the slowest, and they put this down to the fact that the get hotter more quickly when travelling.
Medium-sized animals were found to move the quickest, as they had the benefit of being able to keep cool but also larger legs and wingspans than small animals.
They think this means that climate change could pose a bigger risk to these big animals in future.
Image source, Getty Images
Whether it's swimming, flying, or long marches across land, travel is a very important part of lots of animal's lives.
They need to do it to look for food, find mates, and move to areas with more suitable climates as the seasons change.
As animals became larger, the traveling speeds increased, until they reached one ton, when the got a lot slower.
Image source, Getty Images
The results were the same for aquatic animals even though they live in water, which can cool the body down.
The researchers think the results of the study can help them predict how fast different animals will move, even if not very much is known about their biology.
One the of the researchers, Dr. Myriam Hirt from the University of Jena said: "We anticipate that large animals are potentially more susceptible to the effects of habitat fragmentation in a warming climate than previously thought and therefore more prone to extinction.
"But this needs further investigation".
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