Does Size Really Matter: How Natural Selection Has Shaped Badgers

Abstract

This experiment was performed in order to find out whether animals, such as badgers, that live in warmer climate have developed larger surface area to volume ratios for their bodies in order to dissipate heat more effectively than animals of the same species living in colder climates. Three differently sized clay blocks, which modeled badgers, were heated and their rates of heat dissipation (change in temperature over time) were recorded while cooling to room temperature. The largest block, which had the lowest surface area to volume ratio and represented an animal living in a colder environment, dissipated heated approximately 25% slower than the smallest block, which represented  the animal living in a warmer environment. This data suggests that those animals living in warmer climates exposed more of their bodies to the environment to dispel heat more effectively than animals living in colder environments.