# What animals would be more dangerous if enlarged?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-animals-would-be-more-dangerous-if-enlarged/983050
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [April 22, 2023, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-animals-would-be-more-dangerous-if-enlarged/983050 "2023-04-22T12:51:54Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 2
### Author:  [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)
#### Post date: [April 22, 2023, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-animals-would-be-more-dangerous-if-enlarged/983050/21 "2023-04-22T17:40:19Z")
The only thing more terrible than a terrible lizard would be a terrible lizard covered in feathers. That would be bad.
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### Author:  [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)
#### Post date: [April 22, 2023, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-animals-would-be-more-dangerous-if-enlarged/983050/22 "2023-04-22T17:50:17Z")
Imagine a 75 pound Chihuahua. Pesky little dog that becomes a nasty hyena like critter to everyone but its owner.
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### Author:  [@Tibby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tibby)
#### Post date: [April 22, 2023, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-animals-would-be-more-dangerous-if-enlarged/983050/23 "2023-04-22T18:37:21Z")
Aw, my giant frog will swallow y’alls cats, lizards, chickens, chihuahuas, and anything else you throw at him—and still have room for dessert! 🐸
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### Author:  [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)
#### Post date: [April 22, 2023, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-animals-would-be-more-dangerous-if-enlarged/983050/24 "2023-04-22T18:40:06Z")
Many a D&D campaign will bear this out.
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### Author:  [@Charlie\_Tan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charlie_Tan)
#### Post date: [April 22, 2023, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-animals-would-be-more-dangerous-if-enlarged/983050/25 "2023-04-22T19:15:54Z")
> [@Chingon](#):
>
> Imagine a 20 tall chicken or any other flightless bird super sized.
Ostrich then?And they can indeed be dangerous.
Why does these discussions always involve 50’s era SciFi monster sizes.
I think a 3 inch wasp would be pretty fucking scary, and may not violate the scaling problem. There are insects of about that size.
[ ](https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/c_fill,w_720,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto/shape/cover/sport/weta-9d1cc93d6ee101a859b2c32c5efb9b94.png)
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### Author:  [@Mk\_VII](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mk_VII)
#### Post date: [April 22, 2023, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-animals-would-be-more-dangerous-if-enlarged/983050/26 "2023-04-22T19:40:08Z")
There’s a reason why things are the size they are. As mentioned, animals with an exoskeleton cant get too large or they would collapse. People don’t grow much taller than 6’6"/2m or so, and if they do they often suffer from life-shortening conditions.
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### Author:  [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)
#### Post date: [April 22, 2023, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-animals-would-be-more-dangerous-if-enlarged/983050/27 "2023-04-22T19:51:06Z")
Although some extant exoskeleton land critters get a bunch bigger than @Charlie_Tan’s mongo grasshopper.
See here for some recent Doperish exoskeleton-equipped drama:
> **Spoilered for potentially alarming visual once you actually go to the link. Expanding the spoiler is safe.**
>
> [We caught an Amazonian Giant Centipede in our vacation house](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-caught-an-amazonian-giant-centipede-in-our-vacation-house/982249)
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### Author:  [@dwyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dwyr)
#### Post date: [April 22, 2023, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-animals-would-be-more-dangerous-if-enlarged/983050/28 "2023-04-22T23:51:25Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#):
>
> … A bus-sized housecat would be an inert lump unable to move.
> **[Catbus](https://totoro.fandom.com/wiki/Catbus)**
>
> Catbus is a character in Studio Ghibli's film My Neighbor Totoro. Catbus is a large character who is both a cat, and a bus. He takes spirits, such as Totoro wherever they want to go. Catbus plays a major part in the film, as...
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### Author:  [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)
#### Post date: [April 23, 2023, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-animals-would-be-more-dangerous-if-enlarged/983050/29 "2023-04-23T00:45:07Z")
A giant insect would also immediately suffocate because insects don’t have lungs. Their spiracle-based respiratory system won’t work when scaled up because it depends on oxygen diffusing directly into their tissues.
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### Author:  [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)
#### Post date: [April 23, 2023, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-animals-would-be-more-dangerous-if-enlarged/983050/30 "2023-04-23T01:08:42Z")
> [@Si\_Amigo](#):
>
> Imagine a 75 pound Chihuahua. Pesky little dog that becomes a nasty hyena like critter to everyone but its owner.
Years ago, I said to a friend who was a dog breeder, “Why don’t they cross pit bulls with something else? You could get a pit bull with the temperament of Cavalier King Charles Spaniel.”
He replied, “Or the reverse.”
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### Author:  [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)
#### Post date: [April 23, 2023, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-animals-would-be-more-dangerous-if-enlarged/983050/31 "2023-04-23T01:09:29Z")
> [@Mk\_VII](#):
>
> animals with an exoskeleton cant get too large or they would collapse.
Coconut crabs I think are pretty much the largest land based exo’s can go, and pretty terrifying. Scale up something like a scorpion to that size and that’s not going to be fun to deal with. Perhaps they can evolve some sort of carbon fiber nanostructure exo and get a good deal larger.
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### Author:  [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)
#### Post date: [April 23, 2023, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-animals-would-be-more-dangerous-if-enlarged/983050/32 "2023-04-23T01:11:51Z")
At that point, they are more vertebrates with a chitinous skin than an arthropod.
Not that that wouldn’t be terrifying.
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### Author:  [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)
#### Post date: [April 23, 2023, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-animals-would-be-more-dangerous-if-enlarged/983050/33 "2023-04-23T01:21:17Z")
> [@mixdenny](#):
>
> Shrews.
yeah, shrews. There’s a reason why they are an epithet for a bad-tempered woman (because they are too weak to be dangerous but they want to be). Even a ten pounder would be snacking on your house cats.
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### Author:  [@E-DUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-DUB)
#### Post date: [April 23, 2023, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-animals-would-be-more-dangerous-if-enlarged/983050/34 "2023-04-23T01:26:32Z")
Or “The Incredible Shrinking Man”.
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### Author:  [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)
#### Post date: [April 23, 2023, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-animals-would-be-more-dangerous-if-enlarged/983050/35 "2023-04-23T01:47:44Z")
Well, there you go!
For cryin’ out loud!
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### Author:  [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)
#### Post date: [April 23, 2023, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-animals-would-be-more-dangerous-if-enlarged/983050/36 "2023-04-23T03:17:43Z")
> [@markn\_1](#):
>
> A giant insect would also immediately suffocate because insects don’t have lungs. Their spiracle-based respiratory system won’t work when scaled up because it depends on oxygen diffusing directly into their tissues.
Quite right. In a ~20% oxygen atmosphere. But see below.
> [@kanicbird](#):
>
> Coconut crabs I think are pretty much the largest land based exo’s can go, and pretty terrifying. Scale up something like a scorpion to that size and that’s not going to be fun to deal with. Perhaps they can evolve some sort of carbon fiber nanostructure exo and get a good deal larger.
Back in the Carboniferous period when the atmospheric O2 level was 35-ish percent, there were scorpion-like land critters up to about 3 feet long with a 3+ foot front claw span. I’d rather not.
There may have been even larger creepy crawlies we just haven’t found fossils of yet.
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### Author:  [@HoneyBadgerDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HoneyBadgerDC)
#### Post date: [April 23, 2023, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-animals-would-be-more-dangerous-if-enlarged/983050/37 "2023-04-23T03:20:22Z")
A 25# weasel would be extremely dangerous. I don’t think a 40# wolverine would stand a chance against one. They would probably be able to outrun a cheetah.
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### Author:  [@WhyWhyWhy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyWhyWhy)
#### Post date: [April 23, 2023, 6:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-animals-would-be-more-dangerous-if-enlarged/983050/38 "2023-04-23T06:06:20Z")
Praying mantises certainly outperform their harmless looks with impressive skills. They’ll munch on your head while you complain about the indignity of getting your head consumed alive by a leaf looking twiggie thing.
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### Author:  [@Banksiaman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banksiaman)
#### Post date: [April 23, 2023, 6:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-animals-would-be-more-dangerous-if-enlarged/983050/39 "2023-04-23T06:53:35Z")
The sulphur-crested cockatoo is a common urban bird in eastern Australia, and [often eats building trimmings with its scary chomper beak](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FE4GxzZ4Sr4). They have also [learned how to open rubbish bins](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N-3oHccgenE). They hang out in gangs and while they’re pretty benign but smart, so if they were bigger they’d probably start taking on cars and problem-solving their way into locked buildings as gangs.
If you’re having a quiet sandwich in the park and a big crowd of them wander over it can be very Hitchcockian. I’d not want to take on an angry one now, so if it was double the weight and heft, I’d run.
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### Author:  [@smithsb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smithsb)
#### Post date: [April 23, 2023, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-animals-would-be-more-dangerous-if-enlarged/983050/40 "2023-04-23T12:43:46Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#):
>
> A bus-sized housecat would be an inert lump unable to move
Basically “Garfield” next to an oversized lasagna dish.
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