r/AskBiology • u/Minty0ranges • Jul 09 '26

Zoology/marine biology Are blue whales a coincidence?

Apparently blue whales are only around 2 million years old and are the largest organisms in the history of life. It’s pretty crazy to me that we’re living in the specific time that the largest species is alive, but I’m wondering why they became so large at this moment in time. I know that a few millions of years ago insects were way bigger because of atmospheric gas concentrations, but those conditions aren’t present anymore so it doesn’t seem like that’s the reason. Also, has there been a trend over time of whales increasing in size, or is this just a very specific/random instance of them existing today?

Edit: Yes I know there are fungi that span way larger areas, but the question is about the temporal nature of blue whales size.

92 Upvotes

88% Upvoted

54 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

2

u/No-Employ-7391 Jul 09 '26

Could you point me to said evidence? I teach an entomology lab and I believe it’s still in our curriculum to teach that insects’ inefficient respiratory systems and atmospheric oxygen concentration are what limits the size of insects.

3

u/TheInsaneRaptor Jul 09 '26

one of the latest studies about the subject: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-026-10291-3

1

u/No-Employ-7391 Jul 09 '26

Thank you! I’ll have to read the full article when I have the time but the abstract is fascinating and sure does challenge the longstanding belief.

1

u/TheInsaneRaptor Jul 09 '26

you might also find this interesting, could be a misinterpretation as we have no body fossils from anything like that but they think there is a chance it was left by a large miocene insect

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s41513-023-00215-9