Re: Grendels was: FT-Fighters and SG-aliens

In message <3ACCEAF0.C8D961F3@sympatico.ca>, Richard and Emily Bell
writes:
> 
> Their own young are not the primary food source, the young are the
food sourc
> e of
> last resort.	This has the desirable effect of limiting the number of
adults 
> to
> what the prey can support.  What makes this strategy work is that the
young d
> o not
> compete with the adults for food.  This cycle only leads to extinction
when t
> he
> local ecology can neither support an adult, nor the young.

The funny thing is, the other day I was wondering how an evolved race
that had prodigious numbers of children would cope.  Normally, this is
a survival mechanism in that the assumption is, only a small percentage
would survive.	If you evolved to intelligence and generally removed
yourself from predation, what do you do with so many children?	How do
you teach them advanced knowledge?  Do you maintain some sort of
"strongest
survive" mentality, maybe an education system where non-performers are
killed?  Cannibalism of the young would certainly seem to work...what