--- title: Why does every mammal get 1 billion heartbeats in their life? link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tL9Lw250spc source: youtube-com-veritasium published: 2026-07-25T17:29:09Z updated: 2026-08-11T12:08:06Z first_seen: 2026-09-08T10:17:10.166315Z authors: - Veritasium summary: "The hidden math that governs life. Sponsored by Brilliant - Try Brilliant for free, plus get 20% off an annual Premium subscription at https://brilliant.org/veritasium\n\nLast year, we launched the Elements of Truth game on Kickstarter and were thrilled by the response. We’re now in the final stages of production, with Kickstarter rewards shipping soon. Pre-order the retail edition here: https://elementsoftruth.game/\n\nIf you’re looking for a molecular modelling kit, try Snatoms, a kit I invented where the atoms snap together magnetically - https://ve42.co/SnatomsV\n\nFor weekly science news, and an exclusive Q&A where writer/director Daniel Leonard discusses the making of this video, sign up to the Veritasium newsletter - https://ve42.co/Newsletter \n\nFor early access to work in progress videos join our Patreon - https://ve42.co/VePatreon \n\n▀▀▀\n0:00 How much LSD should you give an elephant?\n3:09 Metabolic Rate In Animals\n5:27 The Surface Law\n8:04 What is Kleiber’s Law?\n10:49 Why is ¼ everywhere in biology?\n13:33 WBE Theory\n19:53 Every animal has 1,000,000,000 heartbeats\n23:11 Why Humans Live Longer\n24:31 Is it better to live in a city or a small town?\n30:12 Is there really a universal scaling exponent for life?\n\n▀▀▀\nMuch of this video was inspired by Geoffrey West’s book: Scale. Check it out here - https://ve42.co/ScaleBook\n\n▀▀▀\nSpecial thanks to the experts who helped make this video possible:\nBrian Enquist, whose work helped inspire this video, for sharing the story behind WBE theory and helping us make its key assumptions and derivation more accurate.\n\nVan Savage, for the generous and detailed feedback that sharpened our explanation of WBE theory, self-similarity, and the current state of the field.\n\nSteven Strogatz, for the insightful conversations, on-camera contribution, and careful reviews that helped us keep the mathematics clear and the story scientifically honest.\n\nPeter Sheridan Dodds, for helping us understand the objections to WBE theory and the debate over three-quarter-power scaling.\n\nAnd the many other experts who discussed this topic with us as we were developing the script, for their invaluable contributions: Luis Bettencourt, Jayanth Banavar, Aaron Clauset, Juan Rubalcaba, and Douglas Glazier.\n\n▀▀▀\nReferences: https://ve42.co/ScaleRefs\n\n▀▀▀\nSpecial thanks to our Patreon supporters:\n\nAdam Foreman, Albert Wenger, Alex Porter, Alexander Tamas, André Powell, Anton Ragin, Balkrishna Heroor, Bertrand Serlet, Blake Byers, Bruce, Bryan Ackermann, Chris Brewer, Data Don, Dave Kircher, David Johnston, David Tseng, EJ Alexandra, Evgeny Skvortsov, Garrett Mueller, Gnare, gpoly, Hayden Christensen, Hong Thai Le, Ibby Hadeed, Jeromy Johnson, Jesse Brandsoy, Juan Benet, Kelcey Steele, KeyWestr, Kyi, Lee Redden, Marinus Kuivenhoven, Mark Heising, Martin Paull, Meekay, meg noah, Michael Krugman, Moebiusol - Cristian, Orlando Bassotto, Parsee Health, Paul Peijzel, Robson, Sam Lutfi, Shalva Bukia, Sinan Taifour, Sweet_Nemo, Tj Steyn, Ubiquity Ventures, Vahe Andonians, wolfee\n\n\n▀▀▀\nWriters - Daniel Leonard, Casper Mebius & Derek Muller\nProducer & Director - Daniel Leonard\nPresenters & Narration - Derek Muller & Henry van Dyck\nEditors - Trenton Oliver, Axel Oliver & Jonny Lennard\nAssistant Editor - James Stuart\nAnimators - Alex Drakoulis, Andrew Neet, Domonkos Józsa, Emma Wright & Fabio Albertelli\nIllustrators - Jakub Misiek & Raphael Aubry\nCamera Operator - Chris Anstis\nSimulations - Callum Cuttle & Aakash Singh Bagga\nResearchers - Aakash Singh Bagga, Callum Cuttle & Gabe Strong\nThumbnail Designers - Abdallah Rabah & Daniel Ellacott\nThumbnail Design Direction - Ben Powell\nProduction Team - Jess Bishop-Laggett, Glen Griffiths, Matthew Cavanagh, Luke Lewis, Anna Milkovic & Justin St-Laurent\nExecutive Producers - Casper Mebius & Derek Muller\n\nAdditional video/photos supplied by Getty Images, Pond5 and Storyblocks\nMusic from Epidemic Sound" content: extracted html: 2026-07-25-why-does-every-mammal-get-1-billion-heartbeats-in-their-life.html preview: file: 2026-07-25-why-does-every-mammal-get-1-billion-heartbeats-in-their-life.preview-6ea32fc7350e.webp width: 256 height: 192 color: '#1d2122' images: - source: https://i.ytimg.com/vi/tL9Lw250spc/maxresdefault.jpg original: file: 2026-07-25-why-does-every-mammal-get-1-billion-heartbeats-in-their-life.image-7fdb9ddce481.jpg width: 1280 height: 720 variants: - file: 2026-07-25-why-does-every-mammal-get-1-billion-heartbeats-in-their-life.image-4a9c7671ff0d.webp width: 48 height: 27 color: '#090a0a' extra: thumbnail: https://i1.ytimg.com/vi/tL9Lw250spc/hqdefault.jpg --- The hidden math that governs life. Sponsored by Brilliant - Try Brilliant for free, plus get 20% off an annual Premium subscription at https://brilliant.org/veritasium Last year, we launched the Elements of Truth game on Kickstarter and were thrilled by the response. We’re now in the final stages of production, with Kickstarter rewards shipping soon. Pre-order the retail edition here: https://elementsoftruth.game/ If you’re looking for a molecular modelling kit, try Snatoms, a kit I invented where the atoms snap together magnetically - https://ve42.co/SnatomsV For weekly science news, and an exclusive Q&A where writer/director Daniel Leonard discusses the making of this video, sign up to the Veritasium newsletter - https://ve42.co/Newsletter For early access to work in progress videos join our Patreon - https://ve42.co/VePatreon ▀▀▀\ 0:00 How much LSD should you give an elephant?\ 3:09 Metabolic Rate In Animals\ 5:27 The Surface Law\ 8:04 What is Kleiber’s Law?\ 10:49 Why is ¼ everywhere in biology?\ 13:33 WBE Theory\ 19:53 Every animal has 1,000,000,000 heartbeats\ 23:11 Why Humans Live Longer\ 24:31 Is it better to live in a city or a small town?\ 30:12 Is there really a universal scaling exponent for life? ▀▀▀\ Much of this video was inspired by Geoffrey West’s book: Scale. Check it out here - https://ve42.co/ScaleBook ▀▀▀\ Special thanks to the experts who helped make this video possible:\ Brian Enquist, whose work helped inspire this video, for sharing the story behind WBE theory and helping us make its key assumptions and derivation more accurate. Van Savage, for the generous and detailed feedback that sharpened our explanation of WBE theory, self-similarity, and the current state of the field. Steven Strogatz, for the insightful conversations, on-camera contribution, and careful reviews that helped us keep the mathematics clear and the story scientifically honest. Peter Sheridan Dodds, for helping us understand the objections to WBE theory and the debate over three-quarter-power scaling. And the many other experts who discussed this topic with us as we were developing the script, for their invaluable contributions: Luis Bettencourt, Jayanth Banavar, Aaron Clauset, Juan Rubalcaba, and Douglas Glazier. ▀▀▀\ References: https://ve42.co/ScaleRefs ▀▀▀\ Special thanks to our Patreon supporters: Adam Foreman, Albert Wenger, Alex Porter, Alexander Tamas, André Powell, Anton Ragin, Balkrishna Heroor, Bertrand Serlet, Blake Byers, Bruce, Bryan Ackermann, Chris Brewer, Data Don, Dave Kircher, David Johnston, David Tseng, EJ Alexandra, Evgeny Skvortsov, Garrett Mueller, Gnare, gpoly, Hayden Christensen, Hong Thai Le, Ibby Hadeed, Jeromy Johnson, Jesse Brandsoy, Juan Benet, Kelcey Steele, KeyWestr, Kyi, Lee Redden, Marinus Kuivenhoven, Mark Heising, Martin Paull, Meekay, meg noah, Michael Krugman, Moebiusol - Cristian, Orlando Bassotto, Parsee Health, Paul Peijzel, Robson, Sam Lutfi, Shalva Bukia, Sinan Taifour, Sweet\_Nemo, Tj Steyn, Ubiquity Ventures, Vahe Andonians, wolfee ▀▀▀\ Writers - Daniel Leonard, Casper Mebius & Derek Muller\ Producer & Director - Daniel Leonard\ Presenters & Narration - Derek Muller & Henry van Dyck\ Editors - Trenton Oliver, Axel Oliver & Jonny Lennard\ Assistant Editor - James Stuart\ Animators - Alex Drakoulis, Andrew Neet, Domonkos Józsa, Emma Wright & Fabio Albertelli\ Illustrators - Jakub Misiek & Raphael Aubry\ Camera Operator - Chris Anstis\ Simulations - Callum Cuttle & Aakash Singh Bagga\ Researchers - Aakash Singh Bagga, Callum Cuttle & Gabe Strong\ Thumbnail Designers - Abdallah Rabah & Daniel Ellacott\ Thumbnail Design Direction - Ben Powell\ Production Team - Jess Bishop-Laggett, Glen Griffiths, Matthew Cavanagh, Luke Lewis, Anna Milkovic & Justin St-Laurent\ Executive Producers - Casper Mebius & Derek Muller Additional video/photos supplied by Getty Images, Pond5 and Storyblocks\ Music from Epidemic Sound