Answer to Question #118502 in Zoology for Gian

Question

I was curious about thus their time animals can be huge and most are average sizes. Why is that? Like, let's say their grey wolf pack is under the leadership of wolf that was the size of a tiger as an example. How could that grey wolf be so huge and others can't. Is it like eating more food or just lucky?

Answer 1

That can depend from numerous factors - genetics, part of probability and degree of competition in ecosystem. Looking on example with wolfs, I can particularly say that happens because of bigger competitive potential (eats more than others) and the main cause is action of hormones. When wolf became dominant, there was an elevation in hormone level to sustain this status of alpha. If another wolf will fight it, he will be also big. And the essential point is heredity.