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1:13 AM
Happy World Elephant Day.
I like elephants a lot. The smallest living elephants are found in Borneo but small is relative since they're still 8 ft tall. But the smallest ever elephants (which might also mean they're the best elephants, but I don't want to pick favorites) were the prehistoric dwarf elephants that lived on islands around the world. Some of them were only 5 ft tall (which finally makes me taller than an elephant.)
There's this cool thing that happens on islands called 'insular dwarfism' which basically means that big mammals travel to islands and because of ecological pressure and stuff, they get smaller. I can't remember the exact details and I can't be bothered to google it, but it's probably about competition or predators or niches. Ecology loves niches.
It doesn't have to only be islands either. It just has to be somewhere cut off and islands are really good like that. Insular dwarfism is one of my favorite things because, like I suggested up there, I like when big animals are small.
Islands are kinda weird though, cause when big animals go to them they get small, but when small animals go to them they get big. ('Island gigantism', which I'm ashamed I had to google the name of because it is exactly what it says.) This is why Mauritius had the dodo which was basically a massive pigeon, and New Zealand had an eagle with a wingspan of 10ft, and islands in the Indian Ocean have coconut crabs that are almost 3.5 ft leg to leg.
No one is interested in any of this and I don't know why I'm still-
What's either your favorite animal or your favorite island? It's going to be bonus points for island animals obviously.
I like elephants a lot. The smallest living elephants are found in Borneo but small is relative since they're still 8 ft tall. But the smallest ever elephants (which might also mean they're the best elephants, but I don't want to pick favorites) were the prehistoric dwarf elephants that lived on islands around the world. Some of them were only 5 ft tall (which finally makes me taller than an elephant.)
There's this cool thing that happens on islands called 'insular dwarfism' which basically means that big mammals travel to islands and because of ecological pressure and stuff, they get smaller. I can't remember the exact details and I can't be bothered to google it, but it's probably about competition or predators or niches. Ecology loves niches.
It doesn't have to only be islands either. It just has to be somewhere cut off and islands are really good like that. Insular dwarfism is one of my favorite things because, like I suggested up there, I like when big animals are small.
Islands are kinda weird though, cause when big animals go to them they get small, but when small animals go to them they get big. ('Island gigantism', which I'm ashamed I had to google the name of because it is exactly what it says.) This is why Mauritius had the dodo which was basically a massive pigeon, and New Zealand had an eagle with a wingspan of 10ft, and islands in the Indian Ocean have coconut crabs that are almost 3.5 ft leg to leg.
What's either your favorite animal or your favorite island? It's going to be bonus points for island animals obviously.