[HN Gopher] Island gigantism
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       Island gigantism
        
       Author : elsewhen
       Score  : 60 points
       Date   : 2023-12-16 11:51 UTC (11 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (en.wikipedia.org)
 (TXT) w3m dump (en.wikipedia.org)
        
       | dang wrote:
       | Related but small:
       | 
       |  _Island gigantism and dwarfism the result of evolutionary island
       | rule_ - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26826178 - April
       | 2021 (2 comments)
        
       | dhosek wrote:
       | I wonder whether early accounts of this phenomenon by 18th C.
       | explorers may have inspired Swift in creating Lilliput and
       | Brobdingnag.
        
       | vatys wrote:
       | Perhaps the tardigrades spilled on the moon by the lander crash
       | will become giants
        
       | bloppe wrote:
       | Feels like they're desperate for a pattern but focusing on size
       | (which can either increase or decrease) is oddly specific. The
       | headline of the article should probably be "insular animals tend
       | to differ from continental counterparts" which is really all you
       | can extrapolate from this "rule"
        
       | 1-6 wrote:
       | I don't think people necessarily follow this rule.
        
         | asow92 wrote:
         | People have gotten a lot taller in the last several millennia.
         | Perhaps our island just earth itself?
        
       | moritzwarhier wrote:
       | https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moa
       | 
       | New Zealand seems to be a good example of this.
       | 
       | Also, fascinating how there were no humans at all there before
       | the 13th century.
        
         | makapuf wrote:
         | I wonder how long it takes to lead to this effect, and if
         | humains have been isolated long enough at one point in history
         | to have had a local effect.
        
       | kirse wrote:
       | Interesting. I always thought it was cool that Hawaii is
       | basically free of land-predators with the exception of the
       | massive centipedes. Maybe this explains how they got so large.
       | 
       | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scolopendra_subspinipes
        
       | AdmiralAsshat wrote:
       | Is this what inspired the idea of "Monster Isle", where giant
       | monsters dwell?
        
       | arichard123 wrote:
       | Mentioned in the infinite monkey cage, big things also get
       | smaller when on islands, as though there is an ideal size.
       | 
       | https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0gr7m49
        
         | mig39 wrote:
         | I think the rule of thumb is that small animals tend to get
         | larger when isolated, and larger animals tend to get smaller.
        
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       (page generated 2023-12-16 23:01 UTC)