Q16 - Metabolic Scaling and Kleiber's Law
The basal metabolic rate of homeothermic (warm-blooded) animals is described by Kleiber’s law, which postulates that metabolic rate depends on animal mass according to a power law. The exponents vary between 2/3 (for relatively small size animals) and 3/4 (for relatively large animals).
Honey badgers are medium sized animals with a mass of about 6 kilograms. Assume the average daily consumed food energy honey badgers release is 2 × 10⁶ J.
E = k × m^α
Where α can be 2/3 or 3/4, m is mass, and k is a constant coefficient.
Q16.1. Calculate the daily food energy consumption of a lesser jerboa with mass 60 grams. Give your answer as a whole number in kJ.
Q16.2. Calculate the daily food energy consumption of a camel with mass 600 kilograms. Give your answer in MJ to 1 decimal point.
Q16.3. Calculate how many lesser jerboas could feed on the desert area sufficient for one camel feeding. Give your answer as a whole number.
Question reproduced from IBO 2023, Theoretical Paper 1, licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 - attributed to the International Biology Olympiad. Open the full exam PDF