4 ms·

Big species have fewer tumours than small ones

• DoctorOetker 7y ago
  >These include about 65 species of mammal—some of which, such as naked mole rats, are noted for low cancer rates even though they are small compared with elephants and whales, and so do not seem to conform to Peto’s paradox. The search will also look at non-mammalian exceptions to the paradox, such as crocodiles and birds. Dr Tollis and Dr Maley speculate that birds, at least, inherited their cancer resistance from dinosaur ancestors which were much larger. They are working on computational models to test this hypothesis. The existence of exceptions is telling. Concluding causation is well known for being tricky, but concluding implication is not tricky. Look at the truth table for implication: F=>F : T F=>T : T T=>F : F T=>T : T this means the exceptions indicate that unless there is a common underlying cause, implication is the other way: species that happen upon better cancer suppression, have the opportunity to expand into previously unavailable behemoth niches.