A complete scientific development: This is the biological rule that dinosaurs broke

The weight of dinosaurs: new research from the University of Alaska Fairbanks and the University of Reading in the UK

Dinosaurs challenged everything we thought we knew about the evolution of body size.

In biology, Bergmann's rule is a 150-year-old principle that links an animal's body size to its external environment. It was first described by German biologist Karl Bergmann in 1847, who noticed that Animals living in cold climates are expected to have a larger body size compared to their relatives in warm climates. For example, polar bears typically weigh more than three times the average weight of an American black bear.

What the new research says

However, as Newsweek reports, new research conducted by the University of Alaska Fairbanks and the University of Reading in the United Kingdom has challenged this rule.

“Our study shows that the evolution of different body sizes in dinosaurs and mammals cannot be reduced simply to a function of latitude or temperature,” he said. Lauren Wilsona UAF graduate student and lead author of the study.

In the study, published in the journal Nature Communications, Wilson and her colleagues looked into the fossil record to see if the relationship between body size and climate still holds for prehistoric animals.

The rule that… is not a rule

“We realized that Bergmann's rule only applies to a subset of animals that are homeothermic (those that maintain a constant body temperature) and only when considering temperature, ignoring all other climatic variables.” “This suggests that Bergman's “rule” is actually the exception rather than the rule».

The data set included the northernmost dinosaurs known to science, those found in the Prince Creek Formation in Alaska. However, despite the freezing temperatures and snowfall these beasts had to deal with, researchers found no noticeable increase in body size compared to their more temperate relatives.

The researchers said the findings are a good example of the need to use the fossil record to test current scientific rules and assumptions.

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