
We must be amazed when considering the size of dinosaurs and the number and function of insects. There have been very large or very small life forms throughout the history of planet Earth. The key to the size extremes of animals depends on ecological needs.
Fossils show enormous dinosaurs as large as a house and as tall as 50 feet. At the time of the dinosaurs, these animals could eat massive amounts of vegetation to provide the fossil fuels that humans would eventually need. They were larger than any land animal living today for good reason. Humans would be unable to share land areas with animals of that size, and predation would be an issue with carnivores the size of T. rex.
In today’s world, giant animals live in the ocean. The blue whale is the largest animal to ever live on this planet. An elephant weighs less than the tongue of a blue whale, and a blue whale’s heart is roughly the size of a car. They are not dangerous carnivores but eat massive amounts of small ocean creatures like krill. Without such a large consumer, the krill would overpopulate the world’s oceans and throw the ocean’s entire food chain out of balance.
Ants are closer to the small end of the size spectrum. For every human on this planet, there are roughly one million ants. Ants exist in many species, and each has particular functions. Some control the number of other insects, while others clean up human waste. Still others are integral to the plant kingdom as pollinators or as food for the plant.
Of course, there are microscopic life forms that make ants look huge by comparison. These size extremes of animals are not an accident, and they serve to sustain life today as they have in the past. Humans have the responsibility to protect the creatures God has created. Otherwise, Earth will become a lifeless ball of rock traveling through space.
— John N. Clayton © 2025
Our thanks to Joe Kramarz for sending us these facts.