Sauron eat your heart out – if you have (had) one.
Scientists have confirmed what we knew all along. When it comes to survival, no-one can beat your average Hobbit.
The Climate News Network reports that scientists from US, the UK, Germany and the Netherlands have established that smaller creatures are set to flourish in a warming world.
Frodo’s journey to Mordor proved he can cope with some of the hottest conditions on Middle Earth
“With food supply drastically reduced, evolutionary forces suggest hobbit-sized humans who needed to eat less would have the greatest chance of survival. These findings are the work of an international group of 30 scientists looking at the vast fossil deposits in rock strata in Wyoming in the US, charting the period 55 million years ago when the Earth’s temperature rose suddenly – as it is expected to do this century.”
They’re basing their findings on data from the last time the world warmed by 6°C, which apparently was 55 million years ago.
“There were mass extinctions, but the timescale gave some plants and animals time to adapt and move north and south to survive. Many species evolved quickly – dwarfism being one of the most widespread and successful strategies.”
So laugh all you like at Bilbo Baggins and his hairy feet. But the moral seems to be when the going gets hot, head to the Shire.
UNSCIENTIFIC PROOF: Sam Gangee and Frodo Baggins thriving in the searing heat of Mount Doom