"Squishy Joints" May Have Helped Dinosaurs Grow To Giant Sizes 56
benonemusic writes "A new study in the journal PLOS ONE suggests that dinosaurs reached gigantic proportions relative to mammals because of differences in their cartilage, making their joints squishier and able to sustain greater amounts of force. Other factors contributed to dinosaurs' larger sizes, including their lighter, air-sac-filled skeletons, and some researchers point out that the sizes of some dinosaurs and mammals were approximately equal, so anatomical differences between cartilage in dinosaurs and mammals may not directly explain why some dinosaurs grew to larger sizes."
Wrong question (Score:5, Insightful)
"anatomical differences between cartilage in dinosaurs and mammals may not directly explain why some dinosaurs grew to larger sizes."
Anatomical differences are never going to explain "why", they can only explain "how".
"Why" is easy to answer - survival of the biggest.
Re:Wrong question (Score:4, Insightful)
Given that "survival of the fittest" is an unguided process, isn't that also "how" rather than "why"?