As dinosaurs died out, mammals grew larger, some to enormous sizes. The study describes that "scrappy ways" of mammals helped them survive and adapt--did you realize we are scrappy survivors?
"The researchers now believe that global temperature and the amount of land available for an animal's range are two primary ecological factors that appear to correlate with the evolution of maximum body size."
"The researchers now believe that global temperature and the amount of land available for an animal's range are two primary ecological factors that appear to correlate with the evolution of maximum body size."
This link leads to a brief review of the study:
http://news.discovery.com/dinosaurs/d...
That phrase "amount of land available" certainly has a bearing on the survival of the large predators that are in global decline--