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I have an oak tree in a pot grown from a seedling. After three years it is healthy but barely a metre tall. However, its leaves are much the same size as those of a mature oak. In animals, a stricter law of proportion seems to apply: babies have tiny hands and kittens tiny claws. Why this difference?

12 December 2018

I have an oak tree in a pot grown from a seedling. After three years it is healthy but barely a metre tall. However, its leaves are much the same size as those of a mature oak. In animals, a stricter law of proportion seems to apply: babies have tiny hands and kittens tiny claws. Why this difference?

Duncan Hutchinson, Newton Abbot, Devon, UK

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