Question

When the skeleton of an elephant and the skeleton of a mouse are prepared in the same size, the bones of the elephant is shown thicker than those of the mouse. Explain why the bones of an elephant are thicker than proportionate. The bones are expected to withstand the stress due to the weight of the animal.

Answer 1

The weight of an elephant is so much that, to bring the stress on the bones under permissible limit the cross-sectional areas of the bones are increased by nature because of stress =Force/area. So the bones of an elephant are thicker than proportionate.