From Mice to Elephants

Kleiber’s law

An interactive lesson with 6 steps, about 5 minutes: you predict, drag and solve, with instant feedback on every answer. It runs in your browser and needs JavaScript.

What you’ll learn

• Kleiber's law: metabolic rate $\propto M^{3/4}$.
• Per kilogram, small animals burn energy much faster.
• Many mammals live for roughly a billion heartbeats.

Steps

1. Metabolism and size
2. Sixteen times heavier
3. Heart rate and size
4. Giant ants?
5. Per kilogram
6. Heartbeats in a lifetime