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Probably a very naive question, but with large animals like certain dinosaurs, could cancer potentially be more common than in humans, due to the number of cell
by anfractuosity 3y ago
Probably a very naive question, but with large animals like certain dinosaurs, could cancer potentially be more common than in humans, due to the number of cells. I imagine it's not that simple though.
- 7thaccount 3y agoHaven't read the article yet, but I believe some large and long-lived animals like elephants are also plagued by cancer, but have developed adaptations somehow iirc. https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/02/210204131438.htm https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/02/210204131438.h...
- neaden 3y agoWhales likewise very rarely get cancer, and in general while larger individuals of the same species have a higher risk of cancer, larger animals in general don't get more cancer. It's called Peto's Paradox https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peto%27s_paradox https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peto%27s_paradox
- anfractuosity 3y agoThanks, hadn't heard of Peto's paradox before
- tomohelix 3y agoDepend on how you look at it. There are definitely higher chances of a cell becoming a cancer cell when there are more of them. But as the rate become too high in very large animals, they evolved mechanisms to fight it and these are so effective they are more resistant to cancer than apes like humans. https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/325178 https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/325178
- jjtheblunt 3y agothere's a famous paradox about that idea wrt elephants. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/why-elephants-don-rsquo-t-get-cancer/ https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/why-elephants-don...