You’ve probably heard the red herring of an argument when it comes to medicine or the medical establishment that cancer can’t be “natural” or more animals would have it.

In truth, animals large and small do actually suffer with cancer – and fairly regularly, too.

In theory, the bigger an animal is, the more likely it is to develop cancer. This is because cancer happens when cells reproduce abnormally, and the more cells you have reproducing, well. You can do the math.

Most cell mutations don’t lead to cancer, but your risk goes up every time division happens. This is why larger organs (like skin) have the highest incidents of cancer in humans.

It’s just science, but rumors that cancer “wasn’t happening” 50 years ago, or that animals like sharks and elephants are immune to cancers, continue to spread like wildfire. This team of researchers out of the University of Reading wanted to prove the claims false, and their recent published study seems to do just that.

In it, they analyze cancer rates in 263 species, and Professor Chris Venditti, issued a statement on their findings.

“Everyone knows the myth that elephants are afraid of mice, but when it comes to cancer risk, mice are the ones who have less to fear. We’ve shown that larger species like elephants do face higher cancer rates – exactly what you’d expect given they have so many more cells that could go wrong.”

They split warm-blooded animals between birds and mammals and cold-blooded animals between amphibians and reptiles, and in all categories, larger species were found to have higher cancer rates than small ones.

“We found no evidence to suggest that the Asian elephant has an exceptionally low prevalence of malignancy despite often being touted as the quintessential example of Peto’s paradox.“

That said, the incidences of cancer in elephants isn’t as high as it could be, given their size, so the researchers admit perhaps we could learn something in studying how they manage it.

“When species needed to grow larger, they have also evolved remarkable defenses against cancer. Elephants shouldn’t fear their size – they developed sophisticated biological tools to keep cancer in check. It’s a beautiful example of how evolution finds solutions to complex challenges.”

The study noted other species that got cancer more or less often than expected, based on their size. Naked mole rats, for example, turn up with cancer extremely rarely, while the budgerigar (parakeet) is diagnosed about 40% more often than they should be for their size group.

Dr. George Butler says scientists and researchers are much more keen on learning how animals like the naked mole rat beat the odds.

“Finding which animals are naturally better at fighting off cancer opens exciting new paths for research. By studying these successful species, we can better understand how cancers develop and potentially discover new ways to fight the disease. This could lead to breakthrough treatments in the future.”

Some secrets have already been revealed. Elephants, for example, have 20 copies of a gene that suppresses tumors (TP53), while humans only have one.

In short, while animals big and small are susceptible to turning up with cancer, they might still be able to helps us better understand how to fight the disease in humans.

And maybe one day in their own species, too.

Thought that was fascinating? Here’s another story you might like: Why You’ll Never See A Great White Shark In An Aquarium