Why do large animals need specialized organs for gas exchange?
A) they require more oxygen per unit of volume
B) surface area increases more rapidly than volume as size increases
C) volume increases more rapidly than surface area as size increases
D) they collect more energy and therefore have more energy to allocate to specialized tissues

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

C) As an animal's size increases, its volume grows more rapidly than its surface area. This means that the surface area available for gas exchange (like oxygen and carbon dioxide) does not increase as quickly as the volume of tissues that require oxygen. Therefore, larger animals need specialized organs (like lungs or gills) to efficiently manage gas exchange to meet the needs of their larger volume of tissues.

Why Do Large Animals Need Specialized Organs for Gas Exchange