dorsal/arxiv
View SchemaObservation of Mammalian Similarity Through Allometric Scaling Laws
| Authors | Valery B. Kokshenev |
|---|---|
| Categories | |
| ArXiv ID | physics/0209031 |
| URL | https://arxiv.org/abs/physics/0209031 |
| DOI | 10.1016/S0378-4371(02)01923-4 |
Abstract
We discuss the problem of observation of natural similarity in skeletal evolution of terrestrial mammals. Analysis is given by means of testing of the power scaling laws established in long bone allometry, which describe development of bones (of length $L$ and diameter $D$) with body mass in terms of the growth exponents, \QTR{it}{e.g.} $\lambda =d\log L/d\log D$. The bone-size evolution scenario given three decades ago by McMahon was quiet explicit on the geometrical-shape and mechanical-force constraints that predicted $\lambda =2/3$. This remains too far from the mammalian allometric exponent $\lambda ^{(\exp)}=0.80\pm 0.2$, recently revised by Christiansen, that is a chief puzzle in long bone allometry. We give therefore new insights into McMahon's constraints and report on the first observation of the critical-elastic-force, bending-deformation, muscle-induced mechanism that underlies the allometric law with estimated $\lambda =0.80\pm 0.3$. This mechanism governs the bone-size evolution with avoiding skeletal fracture caused by muscle-induced peak stresses and is expected to be unique for small and large mammals.
{
"annotation_id": "a602d133-b130-49c4-9429-80b0066d9141",
"date_created": "2026-03-02T18:00:39.533000Z",
"date_modified": "2026-03-02T18:00:39.533000Z",
"file_hash": "498f5def7477e005eea2a7c1db30863e2505bc087245315b363ec143b7e96aaa",
"private": false,
"record": {
"abstract": "We discuss the problem of observation of natural similarity in skeletal\nevolution of terrestrial mammals. Analysis is given by means of testing of the\npower scaling laws established in long bone allometry, which describe\ndevelopment of bones (of length $L$ and diameter $D$) with body mass in terms\nof the growth exponents, \\QTR{it}{e.g.} $\\lambda =d\\log L/d\\log D$. The\nbone-size evolution scenario given three decades ago by McMahon was quiet\nexplicit on the geometrical-shape and mechanical-force constraints that\npredicted $\\lambda =2/3$. This remains too far from the mammalian allometric\nexponent $\\lambda ^{(\\exp)}=0.80\\pm 0.2$, recently revised by Christiansen,\nthat is a chief puzzle in long bone allometry. We give therefore new insights\ninto McMahon\u0027s constraints and report on the first observation of the\ncritical-elastic-force, bending-deformation, muscle-induced mechanism that\nunderlies the allometric law with estimated $\\lambda =0.80\\pm 0.3$. This\nmechanism governs the bone-size evolution with avoiding skeletal fracture\ncaused by muscle-induced peak stresses and is expected to be unique for small\nand large mammals.",
"arxiv_id": "physics/0209031",
"authors": [
"Valery B. Kokshenev"
],
"categories": [
"physics.bio-ph",
"physics.atm-clus",
"q-bio"
],
"doi": "10.1016/S0378-4371(02)01923-4",
"title": "Observation of Mammalian Similarity Through Allometric Scaling Laws",
"url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/physics/0209031"
},
"schema_id": "dorsal/arxiv",
"source": {
"execution_id": "957887bb-7905-4c79-bd84-34f14423c120",
"id": "arXiv Dataset IDs",
"type": "Model",
"variant": "snapshot-2026-03-01",
"version": "0.1.0"
},
"user_id": 1000002
}