Scale: The Universal Laws of Growth, Innovation, Sustainability, and the Pace of Life, in Organisms, Cities, Economies, and Companies

by Geoffrey West

Because networks determine the rates at which energy and resources are delivered to cells, they set the pace of all physiological processes. Because cells are constrained to operate systematically slower in larger organisms relative to smaller ones, the pace of life systematically decreases with increasing size. Thus, large mammals live longer, take longer to mature, have slower heart rates, and cells that don’t work as hard as those of small mammals, all to the same predictable degree. Small creatures live life in the fast lane while large ones move ponderously, though more efficiently, through life; think of a scurrying mouse relative to a sauntering elephant.

Why large ani.mals live longer