Article Title: Is bigger always better, or will the tiny inherit the Earth?
Article Summary
In this article, they author debates whether mammals are better off being big or smaller in size. He starts by saying that being big has its advantages – from warding off predators to better body temperature regulation to better digestion. However, historically, it is the large mammals who have always faced the danger of going extinct during a mass-extinction level event while smaller species remained relatively unaffected. Smaller species also tend to multiply rapidly which explains their huge numbers despite their biological limitations. Moreover, every such event has resulted in larger animals getting smaller and smaller in size. Scientists today suggest that a new mass extinction event is on its way, one fuelled by the human race, and it may be as catastrophic as the ones before it.
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Words to learn from this Article:
Attrition: A wearing down to weaken or destroy; dwindling numbers
Disparity: Inequality or difference in some respect
Epoch: A unit of geological time that is a subdivision of a period and is itself divided into ages
Lineage: The descendants of one individual
Fermentation: A process in which an agent causes an organic substance to break down into simpler substances; especially, the anaerobic breakdown of sugar into alcohol
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