It took elephants 24 million generations to become this big

January 31, 2012 18:00

A mouse-sized mammal could turn into a giant beast as big as an elephant in about 24 million generations in the process of evolution, says a new study.

A team of 20 biologists and palaeontologists who for the first time calculated the rate of evolutionary change in mammals discovered that rates of size decrease are much faster than growth rates.

For their study, published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the team looked at fossils, literature and historical documents to get information about 28 different groups of mammals from various continents and ocean basins over the past 70 million years.

It was found that a small mouse-like mammal may evolve into an elephant-like animal in about 24 million generations, but it takes only 100,000 generations for very large decreases, leading to dwarfism, to occur.

Lead author Dr Alistair Evans, an evolutionary biologist at Monash University's School of Biological Sciences, said the study was unique because most previous work had focused on microevolution, the small changes that occur within a species.

« Back to LIVE

TOP STORIES

EPL: Arsenal stun United; reignite title hopes

Arsenal reclaim provisional top spot with 1-0 win at Man United

In Pictures - 5 in a row! RCB thrash DC to stay alive

Images from the IPL match between Royal Challengers Bengaluru and Delhi Capitals at the M.Chinnaswamy Stadium, in Bengaluru, on Sunday.

Only 12% of LS candidates in fray in phase 5 are women: ADR

The representation of women in the ongoing Lok Sabha polls continues to remain dismally low, as only about 12 percent of the candidates in the fray in the fifth phase are female, according to an analysis by poll rights body ADR.

One more Indian-origin held in Canada's CAD 22.5 mn gold, cash heist

The gold and currency had arrived on an Air Canada flight from Zurich, Switzerland, to Pearson International Airport in Toronto.

Shock at Italian Open: Tabilo upsets Djokovic

Tabilo broke the top seed four times on Centre Court while not conceding a single break point.