Nature’s Giants: The Biology and Evolution of the World’s Largest Lifeforms

Ruxton (Experimental Design for the Life Sciences), a University of St. Andrews biology professor, offers a visually striking but uneven look at the environmental and biological factors influencing how large organisms can possibly become. He begins with the sauropod dinosaurs that, weighing as much as 110 tons, were the largest land animals ever, though they are dwarfed by blue whales, which, as he explains, can weigh twice as much. The title’s reference to giants is slightly misleading, as Ruxton also discusses relatively small organisms—insects, bats, and birds, for example—in terms of each group’s largest known members. In every case, he provides as much information as can fit on a two-page spread, sacrificing depth for breadth, but still producing plenty of intriguing tidbits, such as how sperm whales “collectively eat six times as much seafood as the total human population.” However, enough inconsistencies appear to give the observant reader pause—do killers whales weigh at least or at most 6.5 tons, and is the species’s Latin name Orcinus orca or Orca orcinus? Moreover, while the book’s many photographs and illustrations are attractive, they don’t always give a clear sense of scale to the animals. Though it’s diverting enough for casual perusal, this survey will leave science buffs waiting for a more authoritative take on its topic. (May)