Re: longevity
CurtAdams@aol.com
Sun, 21 Nov 1999 16:09:20 EST
In a message dated 11/20/99 7:15:02 PM Pacific Standard Time,
zharadon@inconnect.com writes:
> I can think of one disadvantage to longevity. Generally (and this was even
> more true in the past), an individuals' offspring care for him when he's
> unable to care for himself. This minor drain on your children's resources
> could be enough of a disadvantage to mildly impact their reproductive
> rates - hence your "long term" reproductive rate (by which I mean total
> number of descendants).
Yes, although this applies only to humans, so we're not likely to find these
kinds of things by looking at mice. We might get lucky and find evolution
has "revived" some mouse problems fixed in other primates.