STREET DOGS: Size is nature’s leverage
Body size in biology is like leverage in investing
Edward Drinker tracked the lineages of thousands of species and showed a clear bias towards animals evolving to become larger over time. Horses went from the size of small dogs to their modern height. Snakes from no larger than an inch to modern boas. Dinosaurs from 3-inch lizards to a brontosaurus. This isn’t surprising. Bigger species are better at capturing prey, can travel longer distances and support bigger brains. The obvious question: why hasn’t evolution made every species freaking huge? Two scientists, Aaron Clauset of the Santa Fe Institute and Doug Erwin of the Museum of Natural History, summed it up in a wonderful sentence: "The tendency for evolution to create larger species is counterbalanced by the tendency of extinction to kill off larger species." Body size in biology is like leverage in investing: it accentuates the gains but amplifies the losses. It works well for a while, then backfires spectacularly at the point where the benefits are nice but the losses are let...
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