Why can’t we see big dogs in the wild, while we can see big cat breeds like lions and tigers?
June 8, 2024
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In nature documentaries We are familiar with big cats such as lions, tigers and cheetahs. But when it comes to dogs, we don’t see many large dog breeds,
In nature documentaries We are familiar with big cats such as lions, tigers and cheetahs. But when it comes to dogs, we don’t see many large dog breeds, do we?
“Of which?” To answer the question Look at the evolutionary process There are advantages.
Big cats in nature have reached their size by species through the evolutionary process.
Big cats such as tigers, lions and jaguars To be successful in hunting and to survive has reached large sizes.
However Large dogs are breeds made by man. Humans developed larger breeds from smaller, naturally existing dog breeds. For this reason, the existence of large dogs seems to be the work of man, and not nature.
So why can’t dogs grow as big as big cats?
Dogs cannot naturally reach large sizes The main reason behind this is their evolutionary strategy. Canidae; Instead of striking down its prey with great force, it uses the tactic of following them in herds over long distances and exhausting them.
Short Large sizes offer no advantage to dogs. Size means greater energy expenditure, and for dogs energy conservation is more important because they have to travel long distances to exhaust their prey.
Big cats, on the other hand, lie in wait and make sudden attacks on their prey, i.e.: They need strong and muscular bodies.
About 5.3 million years ago, a large dog species called Epicyon lived in North America.
Weighed between 90 and 135 kilograms and had a large lion-like head. However, because this species is now extinct, there are no other natural dog species large enough to compete with big cats.
Ashley Johnson is a science writer for “Div Bracket”. With a background in the natural sciences and a passion for exploring the mysteries of the universe, she provides in-depth coverage of the latest scientific developments.