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

----- Original Message -----
From: Andy Cowell <andy@cowell.org>
To: <gzg-l@csua.berkeley.edu>
Sent: Thursday, April 05, 2001 11:14 PM
Subject: 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
> about "Amphibian Spongiform Encephalopathy?"	Mad frog disease. ;)
>
>
>
I have a one word answer to this, "arachnids". Check out the starfire
site
for the biology/society involved.

BIF
 "yorkshire born,yorkshire bred,
 strong in arms, thick in head"