Les Jones

A&E > Science and Movies, Together Again

Via Kottke, The Biology of B-Movie Monsters, which explains why classic plots involving giant bus-sized ants and tiny fun-sized humans wouldn't really work.

The really large terrestrial animals are all extinct, but we still have elephants and rhinos for a bit of insight into this problem. Think of the last time you went to the zoo. True, there was a fence around the elephant compound, but a moment's reflection will convince you that the fence can't be meant to keep the elephants in--all they would have to do is lean against the fence to bring it down. No, the fence is there to keep you out. What really keeps the elephants in is the dry moat around their compound; a fall of half a dozen feet would shatter the bones in the elephants' legs and the elephants know that very well indeed. One of the major flaws of all the Kong movies is that the giant apes are just too active, leaping and crashing around as if they were monkeys, protected by their small size. Remember the elephants, and look on these antics with a bit more skepticism.