Most people don’t know why, but smaller animals need to eat more (relative to their bodyweight) to survive. This phenomemon is called “Kleiber’s Law.” According to this law, an animal’s metabolic rate scales to the 3⁄4 power of the animal’s mass. With this in mind, a hobbit, which is about half the mass of a human being, would need to eat about 7 times a day to survive.
It’s science. Watch this episode of MinuteEarth to learn more about Kleiber’s Law and Second Breakfast, Elevenses, Luncheon, and more!
Edit: Herr Morgenstern on Fark left this funny comment about this post, and I thought you guys might find it amusing:
They eat more, of course. But that also means they’re just constantly shiatting. That’s why it took them so long to get to Mt. Doom, they were taking 20 poo breaks a day.
Yep, makes total sense!