If other animals are getting smaller with evolution, why are humans getting larger?

There is some evidence that humans were giants at one time (10'-20' tall). It is one explanation how huge cut stones in Lebanon and Peru were moved, and set into place...

There is also some evidence that during the time of the dinosaurs, there was more available oxygen on the earth. Perhaps many life forms are shrinking. In most changes, evolution takes a "two steps forward, and one step back" approach...

It's a bit of a myth that we were all short in ancient times. As someone else mentioned, hunter gatherers were often quite tall because of their protein rich diet. In the neolithic when the diet became more cereal-based we became smaller, but not unduly so--bones from my region show women were about 5 ft 1-2 and men about 5ft 5. (You can still find lots of people around that size esp in the Mediterranean.) In the bronze age & Iron ages they started getting bigger again; probably averaging 5ft 8 for men, and 5ft 4 for women--that is the SAME average height as modern women in Britain today,and only 1 inch shorter for males. I know of several male skeletons of the period that were 6ft or over too.

People seemed to get shorter in medieval and later times; this was due to living in cities in overcrowded and unhygienic conditions,and eating a much poorer diet than their ancestors who would have all herded animals or grown their own food.

At the turn of the 20th century, the average height in Britain was almost back to what it was in the neolithic! By the middle of the century we were once again hitting the heights of our bronze age ancestors as people understood nutrition,medical care became better and there was more prosperity.. I doubt very much we will get much taller--but unfortunately we do seem to be getting unhealthily fatter, and some studies say that men are feminizing in appearance--their bottoms and hips and bellies are getting rounder while their shoulders/chests are becoming less broad and more narrow and rounded.

Because evolution does not act the same on every species--it's inherently situational. Some species have gotten bigger over time, others smaller. In addition, the increase in size we've seen in humans over the past 200 years has not been due to evolution (there hasn't been enough time), but rather to better nutrition. For example, in one or two generations, the Japanese population's average height has gone up 4 or 5 inches. All due to nurture, not nature.

We're not getting larger because of evolution; we're getting larger because of good nutrition. Actually, our hunter/gatherer ancestors used to be about as tall as we are on average. Makes sense; they ate what we evolved to eat- lots of varieties of plant matter and a good dose of animal protein and fat. It's only in recent years that most Westerners are able to eat a diet like that. Usually, the poor can't afford to eat more than one type of food with a few other things thrown in occasionally- remember the Irish and their potato famine? The poor nowadays still eat like that. Fruits, vegetables, and most meats are far more expensive than wheat, corn, rice, and beans. They still also tend to be much shorter than the wealthier of us. The tallest countries, like the Netherlands, tend to be the ones with the highest standards of living. The fact that some populations in the US are shrinking ought to be of grave concern to us.

Some are getting smaller and others are getting larger. Humans tend to kill the large ones and also the large predators. That probably has been a temporary shrinking influence.

size is one of the factors controlling survival of the species. when smaller individuals can survive and reproduce as efficiently as larger one, then, the preference for size will get reduced, and population increase because of (presumably) lower demand for food.

in the case of humans, survival is less dependent on size now, because of social advancement and security. but humans can choose their partners more intelligently, for features not necessarily connected with survival. therefore, if there is an aesthetic preference for larger body size, then, mating will be selective, preferring such huge individuals, and the average size will go up. and a large number of humans have the wherewithal for good food so that their potential for larger size attainment can be fulfilled.

It's not true that ALL others are getting smaller.

We're not getting taller genetically. We've always varied greatly in height -- there were people in the 1600s and before that were over 6 feet.

What's happened is that more of us grow up with proper nurishment, and so are reaching our full heights, rather than being stunted.

It's interesting that through examining human remains, hunters and gatherers more than 5,000 years old were often pretty tall. When agriculture came onto the scene, people began to get smaller because they weren't getting the right kinds of nutrition, were more prone to diseases, and often had less to eat than our earlier ancestors. So we may not be getting bigger than we were before agriculture.

human growth is on a line with progression. 1600 you would have been tall in europe but not in places like africa.

and with the insects and fish and crocs, they were ancestors of these animals not necessarily the animal itself. so ancient crocs weren't really crocs but their evelutionary ancestors

Those animals had to reduce in size to deal with evolving physiology and changing enviornment such as lower levels of O2, biological effiecency, etc

As for humans we have been breeding ourselves taller as generally taller people get the mates to produce children with....also it makes us more efficiently able to dissipate heat

Because of eating. Other animals are getting low on food, while humans are getting all the food we need.