Category: Dwarfism

Dwarf Worship

June 27, 2010 By arne hendriks 0

At the end of the 19th century R.G. Haliburton ‘hunted’ for a secret dwarf tribe he believed to live somewhere in the Atlas Mountains in Morocco. It aroused quite some interest as this article in The New York Times dated 27 september 1891 shows. The…

Insular Gigantism & Dwarfism

May 16, 2010 By arne hendriks 1

On islands, it occurs relatively frequently that large species of animals tend to get smaller and small species tend to get larger. The greater interspecies competition or pressure of carnivores on the continent may actually force them beyond the limits of their optimum size. They…

Plant-stress and Size

May 4, 2010 By arne hendriks 1

As with animals, Plants can be dwarfed through genetic engineering and selective breeding, but environmental stresses  such as soil quality, light, drought, flood, cold, infection, and herbivory, can also lead to a dwarfed stature . However the majority of dwarfing in plants does not directly occur…

Bergmann’s Rule

April 4, 2010 By arne hendriks 1

Songbirds in the US are getting smaller, and climate change is suspected as the cause. A study of almost half a million birds, belonging to over 100 species, shows that many are gradually becoming lighter and growing shorter wings. This shrinkage has occurred within just half…

A fascinating adventure into the unknown!

April 1, 2010 By arne hendriks 0

This research project gets its name from the classic film The Incredible Shrinking Man.  The film, based on Richard Matheson’s book The Shrinking Man, is about a man who slowly shrinks into oblivion. It is a rich document for analysis of  some of the fears and…

Pingping (72 cm) dies at 21.

April 1, 2010 By arne hendriks 0

The world’s shortest man, He Pingping, who was just over 72cm tall has died at the age of 21 from apparent heart complications, the Guinness World Records book said. He, whose diminutive body size was the result of primordial dwarfism, was recognized as a world-record holder in…