Question

Somebody asked it here, and the answer was basically there's no specific size. Still, I'd like to ask if there's an average size to it. Would a Greenland-sized landmass cause elephants to evolve into smaller sizes? (On a side note, were there mammoths in Greenland?)

Answer 1

An isolated elephant population on a Greenland-sized landmass could potentially evolve into smaller sizes due to environmental pressures and limited resources, akin to how the pygmy mammoths evolved. Woolly mammoths inhabited Siberia and northern regions, with climate change and human hunting contributing to their extinction. Evolutionary changes like these take many generations to occur.

Step-by-step explanation:

The question at hand involves the potential evolutionary impacts of environmental size on an animal species, specifically whether a landmass the size of Greenland could cause elephants to evolve into smaller sizes. It's important to understand that evolution is influenced by various factors, including environmental conditions, availability of resources, and genetic variation. Isolated populations, like those of the woolly mammoths on islands, can experience different evolutionary pressures that could lead to changes in size over many generations through a process known as insular dwarfism.

Concerning mammoths in Greenland, woolly mammoths did not inhabit Greenland but were found in Siberia and other northern regions. Climate change and human hunting are commonly cited factors in their extinction, which shows the interconnectedness of species and their environments. If an elephant population were to become isolated on a landmass the size of Greenland, over vast periods, these animals could potentially evolve into a smaller size due to limited resources and environmental pressures—similar to how the pygmy mammoth evolved on the Channel Islands off California.