doglover:Large mammals have a pretty weird reproduction strategy. They nurture ONE baby, and protect their weak young one for a long time until it matures.

Most invertebrates and plants just blast out kids by the 100's often enough some always survive.

Imagine if every time you had sex, 10 babies were left on the bed and they were more or less totally self sufficient. What would you do with all those kids?

Nothing. They would be dumb as rocks (as would the parents). The long childhood of humans is one reason we are so intelligent. Human infants are born hilariously premature compared to other species. If we weren't, babies either would not fit through the pelvic girdle or women's legs would be splayed out two feet from each other, and they would waddle like penguins with epilepsy. But as a consequence our little underformed brains get bombarded with sensory data. This in turn helps to develop the human brain to be flexible. Instead of jelling before birth, our brains stay plastic to deal with the wild data dump it is constantly having to absorb. If we had tiny-headed offspring with all the wiring preset like you want, we would be barely smarter than the crab and unable to discuss this.

So when there is not enough food for mama, and the babies will likely starve anyway, mama eats the babies and lives a little longer to either get somewhere with food or has more time for food to comes by. Seems reasonable.

I have to wonder what the total energy outcome is. Meaning, is she just reclaiming as much food value as she can? Or have the larvae eaten enough to make this a net gain for her? Is she only gaining because of the food weight added by the sperm?

The original article only matters for up-to-24h-old larvae. I don't know how much they could've eaten by then.

phalamir:doglover: Large mammals have a pretty weird reproduction strategy. They nurture ONE baby, and protect their weak young one for a long time until it matures.

Most invertebrates and plants just blast out kids by the 100's often enough some always survive.

Imagine if every time you had sex, 10 babies were left on the bed and they were more or less totally self sufficient. What would you do with all those kids?

Nothing. They would be dumb as rocks (as would the parents). The long childhood of humans is one reason we are so intelligent. Human infants are born hilariously premature compared to other species. If we weren't, babies either would not fit through the pelvic girdle or women's legs would be splayed out two feet from each other, and they would waddle like penguins with epilepsy. But as a consequence our little underformed brains get bombarded with sensory data. This in turn helps to develop the human brain to be flexible. Instead of jelling before birth, our brains stay plastic to deal with the wild data dump it is constantly having to absorb. If we had tiny-headed offspring with all the wiring preset like you want, we would be barely smarter than the crab and unable to discuss this.

Ah yes, good ol' human exceptionalism. It's a great theory along with its buddies free energy, UFOlogy, and trickle down economics.

doglover:phalamir: doglover: Large mammals have a pretty weird reproduction strategy. They nurture ONE baby, and protect their weak young one for a long time until it matures.

Most invertebrates and plants just blast out kids by the 100's often enough some always survive.

Imagine if every time you had sex, 10 babies were left on the bed and they were more or less totally self sufficient. What would you do with all those kids?

Nothing. They would be dumb as rocks (as would the parents). The long childhood of humans is one reason we are so intelligent. Human infants are born hilariously premature compared to other species. If we weren't, babies either would not fit through the pelvic girdle or women's legs would be splayed out two feet from each other, and they would waddle like penguins with epilepsy. But as a consequence our little underformed brains get bombarded with sensory data. This in turn helps to develop the human brain to be flexible. Instead of jelling before birth, our brains stay plastic to deal with the wild data dump it is constantly having to absorb. If we had tiny-headed offspring with all the wiring preset like you want, we would be barely smarter than the crab and unable to discuss this.

Ah yes, good ol' human exceptionalism. It's a great theory along with its buddies free energy, UFOlogy, and trickle down economics.

How is it exceptionalism? Other primates do something similar; humans just take it to an extreme. And animals with fewer/less developed young tend to be the ones with more complex and adaptable behaviors. While animals with Gatling-gun hoo-hahs tend to be from species that tend to be less situationally adaptable and/or intelligent.

Exceptionalism would mean that the process is somehow not explainable by the normal mechanism (in this case evolution). But extreme specialization is completely within evolutionary theory. Or do you refer to equine speed as horse exceptionalism?

What's exceptional about it? He's essentially right. Mammals and birds are pretty much the only two animal groups that take care of their young past infancy. The rest of the animal kingdom overwhelmingly favors abandoning offspring shortly after (or even shortly before) birth, leaving everything to fate.

What's exceptional about it? He's essentially right. Mammals and birds are pretty much the only two animal groups that take care of their young past infancy. The rest of the animal kingdom overwhelmingly favors abandoning offspring shortly after (or even shortly before) birth, leaving everything to fate.