History Main / AnimalsNotToScale

* ''Dilophosaurus'' from the first ''Film/JurassicPark'' is much smaller than its real life counterpart. In this case, though, it probably wasn't fully grown, as Dennis did say to it, "You're not like your big brothers, you're not so bad". The ''Spinosaurus'' in Jurassic Park III is a different story: It was once thought have had its size exaggerated, thus making it the first variant. But later discoveries made it clear that the ''Spinosaurus'' in the film was actually ''smaller'' than its real life counterpart, not larger. However, it is indeed ''taller'' than its real life counterpart, simultaneously making it both variants at the same time.
** WordOfGod from Steven Spielberg is that the the dilophosaur was supposed to be a juvenile, though. .VideoGame/JurassicParkTheGame contradicts this by having ''all'' of the dilophosaurs that appear be around that size. (Doctor Sorkin attributes this to the genetic engineering.)
** In order to make the ''Spinosaurus'' in ''III'' look more impressive, they used a much smaller size for the T. rex than they had been using in the movies prior. [[DownplayedTrope Downplayed]] in that its still in a realistic size range for an adult Tyrannosaurus, although on the extremely low end.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheRescuersDownUnder'' features a wedge-tailed eagle named Marahute big enough to serve as a GiantFlyer. A real life wedge-tailed eagle (or eaglehawk) has a 7-foot wingspan; impressive for sure, but not ''that'' big.

* Clarabelle Cow and Horace Horsecollar from the WesternAnimation/ClassicDisneyShorts are human sized.
** There really are miniature cattle and horses, but normal sized cattle and horses are about half a ton.

** Notably, early in the film ''Velociraptor'' is described as resembling a "six-foot turkey". The comparison to turkeys is rather interesting, considering that turkeys are the modern birds most comparable to ''Velociraptor'' in ''size''. Yes, the real thing was more of a [[ShapedLikeItself turkey-sized turkey]].
** However, a credible reasoning for this is that, at the time the film was made, the larger ''Deinonychus'' was considered a species of ''Velociraptor'' by Gregory Paul, the primary source of reference for Creator/MichaelCrichton.[[note]]Also, the much larger ''Utahraptor'' was discovered during the production of the movie. Michael Crichton once joked that "I created it in fiction, and then they discovered it in fact a bit later." In fact, ''Utahraptor'' was originally going to be named ''Utahraptor spielbergi'', after film director Steven Spielberg, in exchange for funding palaeontological research, but no agreement could be reached on the amount of financial assistance.[[/note]]

** GiantEnemyCrab

* ''VideoGame/{{Scribblenauts}}'': Most small arthropods get enlarged to the size of Maxwell's face, while big animals like whales are significantly smaller than their actual size.

* In-universe example: to make the fighters roughly equal, various characters are sized up in the ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBros'' games, including [[Franchise/{{Pokemon}} Pikachu]] and [[VideoGame/{{Pikmin}} Captain Olimar]].
* Most Franchise/{{Pokemon}} based on small animals are enormous compared to whatever creature they're based on. A few examples: there are Raticate the forty-pound rat, and Pikachu the foot-tall mouse. The smallest Pokémon, the tiny Joltik, is 10 cm long. It is based on some sort of Acari(ticks and mites), the largest of which are about 10 mm.

* The giant octopus in ''VideoGame/EccoTheDolphin''. There ''are'' huge giant squids, and the largest North Pacific Giant Octopus are perhaps 14 or 15ft long, but this one was at least twice the size of Ecco, a bottlenose dolphin, which grows to about 12ft long.
** The original Ecco also had gigantic seahorses and trilobites in the distant past.
* ''Animal Kaiser'' has fish/insects/birds/bats/snakes which are at least the size of large cats.
* As has been parodied at least once, ''VideoGame/{{Frogger}}'' is apparently about the size of a small car. This carried over to its modern day counterpart, ''VideoGame/CrossyRoad''.

* Throughout the ''Power Rangers'' series, the Zords based on animals were seldom if ever to scale with each other (this was so that they could form Megazords). The Zords were large enough for their heads to hold the cockpits for the Rangers to operate them. In ''Mighty Morphin'', for instance, if the Dinozords had been to scale with each other, these might have been their sizes (in which case they might not have required a Megazord or an Ultrazord mode):

* In ''WesternAnimation/OnceUponAForest'', Cornelius and his niece Michelle (badgers), Abigail (a wood mouse), Edgar (a mole), and Russell (a hedgehog) are not drawn to scale. Michelle, Abigail, Edgar, and Russell are children, but the latter three are slightly taller than Michelle, who is about half of her uncle's height. Since they are given an anthropomorphic upright posture, Cornelius should be about 22 inches tall; Michelle, 11 inches; Abigail, 2.25 inches (she is three-quarters of her father's height); Edgar, 2.625 inches (he is two-thirds of his mother's height); and Russell, 6 inches (he is three-quarters of his mother's height).

* Oddly, the Series/{{Teletubbies}} managed a live action example (sort of), populating the set with an unusually large variety of rabbit to make the costumed characters (adult actors) look child-sized.
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* In ''ComicStrip/{{Dilbert}}'', when Ratbert was introduced he was more or less normal-sized for a rat. At least Scott Adams could [[HandWave explain]] a size increase by saying that Ratbert was still living at the science lab for a while and was experimenting with a growth formula.

-Saber-toothed "tiger" (cat, actually; specifically ''Smilodon''): 10,400 feet high att the shoulders; saber fangs 2,000 feet long; weight 7.5 billion tons

-Antelope (specifically, oryx): 26,250 feet long overall and 12,500 feet high at the shoulders; horns 9,750 feet long apiece; weight 8 billion tons

-Rhino (specifically, Indian): 36,000 feet long overall and 14,000 feet high at the shoulders; horn 2,000 feet long; weight 40 billion tons

-Elephant (specifically, African): 30,000 feet high at the shoulders; trunk 20,000 feet long; ears 13,000 feet high by 10,000 feet wide (about 3.5 square miles in area) each; weight 160 billion tons

-Snake (specifically, the adder): 7,000 feet long; 270 feet wide; fangs 30 feet long; weight 8 million tons

* Throughout the ''Power Rangers'' series, the Zords based on animals were seldom if ever to scale with each other (this was so that they could form Megazords). The Zords were large enough for their heads to hold the cockpits for the Rangers to operate them. In ''Mighty Morphin'', for instance, if the Dinozords had been to scale with each other, these might have been their sizes:

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* ''Webcomic/GirlGenius'', set as it is in a world filled with [[MadScientist Mad Scientists]] who are perfectly happy modifying all animals - including humans - has a number of examples:
** Füst is apparently a Jagerbear - Jagers are made by giving humans the jagerdraught, turning them into immortal [[SuperSoldier Super Soldiers]]. Drinking the draught has apparently made Füst into the [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20050606#.Vx-M_PkrLIU size of a small elephant.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/BeastWars'' characters combine all the issues of this trope with [[http://tfwiki.net/wiki/Scale common scale problems prevalent]] in ''Franchise/{{Transformers}}'' media, mostly in beast mode. Cheetor and Tigatron, being introduced ''right next'' to actual animals of their species, are explicitly according to scale. However, Rattrap is ''exceptionally large'' for a rat, Waspinator, Tarantulus et. al. would be horrific in real life, and Megatron is downright ''pathetically small'' for a T-Rex.[[note]]If he was correctly proportioned, he'd be by far the biggest Beast Wars character, and rival the original Optimus Prime in size [[/note]] The same scale problems can be said for ''Anime/BeastWarsII'' (anime) and other Transformers series in other media.
** It is highly likely that the beast modes are deliberately resized to fit their original Cybertron scale, however.

* The villain of Disney's ''WesternAnimation/{{Dinosaur}}'' is a ''Carnotaurus'' that's considerably larger than the film's hero, Aladar (an ''Iguanodon''). In real life, [[ArtisticLicensePaleontology both dinosaurs were about the same size]]. This seems to be at least partly because [[WhatCouldHaveBeen the villain role was originally]] going to [[TyrannosaurusRex a much more familiar giant theropod]], which ''was'' considerably larger than the average ''Iguanodon''.

* ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsResistance'': [[Recap/StarWarsResistanceS1E6SignalFromSectorSix "Signal from Sector Six"]] has an in-universe example. While investigating a derelict freighter, Kaz and Poe encounter a giant [[spoiler:Kowakian monkey-lizard]]. The species is normally the size of a large rat, but this one is large enough to overpower and ''eat'' a [[TheReptilians Trandoshan]], which are on average taller than humans.